“The arrest of these individuals was part of a large-scale operation to examine Arab and foreign workers and to arrest those who violated residency procedures or entered Iraqi territory without visas and official procedures,” Iraqi interior ministry spokesperson Miqdad Miri told Rudaw.
Iraq frequently carries out operations against foreign workers in the country and typically deports those found guilty of violating residency procedures, according to Miri.
In March of last year, Iraqi authorities initiated a large-scale crackdown on foreigners it said were violating residency requirements. Many Syrians were detained and deported following raids on their residences and workplaces.
Iraq hosts more than 260,000 Syrian refugees, according to figures from the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR), with more than 254,000 of them residing in the Kurdistan Region.
Human rights organizations have criticized Iraq for unlawfully deporting refugees and have routinely called on Iraqi authorities to end the practice.
Last year, Human Rights Watch said that authorities in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region have unlawfully arrested and deported Syrian refugees and called on Baghdad to “immediately end” the campaigns.
Hastyar Qadir contributed to this report.
