By Aaron Hammond 
Walking through Lapaz in the evening should be a normal experience after a long day of hustle in Accra. Instead, many residents get shocked when they spot the exact same faces of foreign street beggars who were recently cleared away.
According to official reports from the Ministry of the Interior, over three thousand five hundred illegal immigrants and street beggars have been removed from Ghana.
Yet, seeing them back at traffic lights raises serious questions about how enforcement works in our country.
When images and complaints hit social media platforms tagging the Ghana Immigration Service, citizens demand immediate answers.
People want to know if these individuals sneak back through unapproved routes or if there are gaps in the repatriation system.
It feels like a repeating cycle where law enforcement organizes a major swoop, and things go back to normal a few weeks later.
Taxpayers work hard to support state institutions, so seeing zero lasting change can test anyone’s patience.
Understanding the immigration sweep and government action
The Ghana Immigration Service has not been sleeping on duty because they have executed several intelligence-led operations across major cities.
Figures shared by the Interior Ministry indicate that thousands of undocumented persons have been processed and sent back to their home countries.
These sweeps target organized networks that use vulnerable women and children for commercial street begging at busy intersections.
Government officials explain that porous borders and regional protocols make total border control a very difficult task to manage daily.
Despite these heavy security interventions, the temptation of the Accra streets remains too strong for many displaced persons.
Begging in the capital city brings in fast daily cash compared to what they might earn back home.
Some syndicates simply arrange transport for them to slip back across borders once the initial heat of the security clampdown cools down.
This persistent loophole turns well-planned state interventions into a temporary fix rather than a permanent solution.
What needs to change to protect our streets
Fixing this problem requires more than just bundling people into state buses for brief repatriation exercises that rarely deter returnees.
Our security agencies must collaborate tightly with local district assemblies to monitor neighborhoods where these migrants easily rent cheap rooms.
If community leaders and neighborhood watch committees do not report strange movements, immigration officers will keep fighting a losing battle.
Citizens also share some blame because giving alms directly at traffic lights only encourages these illegal networks to thrive.
The Ministry must strengthen border security technology and deal ruthlessly with local collaborators who harbor undocumented nationals for profit.
Until border patrols become watertight and judicial fines for harboring illegal migrants become severe, Lapaz will keep seeing familiar faces.
Ghana welcomes visitors with open arms, but national security and public order must always come first.
Let us support our security services with reliable information so they can permanently sanitize our streets and highways.
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Source: Ghana News Page