Indriksone: politicians should not decide who is loyal to Latvia

National Alliance (NA) leader Ilze Indriksone said in an interview with the LETA podcast "Politiķi! Kas tas vispār bij?!" that politicians themselves should not be the ones deciding whether a person is loyal to Latvia. According to her, that task belongs to security agencies, whose job is to assess risks and act when necessary.

The question arose from NA's election program pledge to encourage the departure of people disloyal to Latvia and of Russian citizens. Asked to clarify who this would apply to, Indriksone pointed to people acting in the interests of hostile states, as well as those concealing a second citizenship — particularly citizenship of an aggressor state. She said such cases deserve special attention.

Latvian citizens cannot be deported

When pressed on how this would apply to Latvian citizens specifically, Indriksone admitted that deporting them is not possible, noting that the law does not allow it. She gave a similar answer regarding people unwilling to integrate into Latvian society, saying their views cannot be changed by force and that the state can only work with those who are themselves willing.

Indriksone named learning and using the state language in daily life as one of the clearest signs that a person wants to live in Latvia and respects the country. However, she said politicians themselves should not determine what a person actually thinks or intends, or whether they are loyal to the state — again pointing to security institutions as the ones responsible for that assessment.