Iurie Spînu is the director of the Department for combating illegal residency and migration of foreigners, a part of the government of the Republic of Moldova. As a part of “New challenges in the area of migration” (organized by the Multicultural Center Prague in November 2003), Spinu presented a lecture assessing the impact of migration especially on the internal situation in his homeland. He said that the Ministry of Interior and its department specializing on issues related to illegal migration headed by Spinu are the only force resisting the growing inflow of illegal immigrants, both from different countries and stateless and enforcing legal residency regimes in the country.

Spinu lists the roles fulfilled by his department and talks about the various legal norms on which Moldova’s migration policy builds. He pays special attention to the problem of returning foreigners who illegally reside in Moldova, stating that "..lately, there were several cases when the Ukrainian authorities decided to return deported foreigners back to Moldova, not allowing them to enter their country’s territory." He also discusses abuses of Moldova’s asylum procedure. Spinu than lists a number of problems that make it difficult to combat crime among foreigners as well as a numb r of recommendations for the future.