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Illegal immigrants are among one of the challenging issues mostly in border regions of
Tanzania. There are number of unlawful immigrants who are entering and residing in those
regions and are alleged to cause some negative effects in social and economy of those regions.
Those are reasons which motivate this study.
The research sought to assess reasons of unlawful immigrants in Tanzania, particularly along
border regions and to analyze and suggest possible measures to overcome the problem.
Case studies of four regions were used, that cover border regions of Kigoma, Kagera, Rukwa
and Mara in which the sample of immigration officers and immigrants were purposively
picked for interviews.
As such, both primary data and secondary data were used. Primary data were conductively
collected through interviews questions and observation in households of immigrants while
secondary data was gathered through various studies, journals and annual reports of
immigration service of Tanzania, Immigration monthly magazine, newsletters and books.
The study findings indicate that there are many unlawful immigrants along the border regions
who are consuming national resources in silence. They came through both official means and
unofficial means. Unofficial means include unregistered entry points, smuggling and other
deliberately avoid immigration procedures. In addition some refugees who escaped from
refugees camps, while others come as nomads. In most cases they are welcomed by natives
who use them for their domestic activities, farming and animal keeping.
Furthermore, war in their home countries, searching for grazing areas, business activities with
natives and employment in coffee, tea and tobacco plantations are some of reasons which
make them to come into Tanzania. Most of Immigrants are coming from neighboring
countries, which are Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya, Congo DRC, Zambia, Malawi and
Mozambique. Moreover there also people from Somalia, Ethiopia, Eritrea, India and Pakistan.
It is recommended that, Government of Tanzania should formulate both Immigration and
security Policies to address the matter, review all laws and regulations related to immigration
services, provide civic education to natives, to increase working facilities, enhance routine
patrols and operations for immigration officers along border lines. To those Immigrants who
have been residing in Tanzania for a long time, special screening must be done and those who
are royal and potential to Tanzania should be retained as citizens. |
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