Fourteen of the 34 illegal immigrants arrested by gardaí this morning appeared before the Dublin District Court this afternoon
Charged with a range of immigration and deportation offences, the eleven men and three women were all remanded in custody.
Over 200 gardaí are involved in "Operation Hyphen" which is targeting illegal immigrants who are the subject of deportation orders.
The defndants - originating in Izbekistan, Romania, Moldova, Nigeria and Poland - were arrested this morning with a range of documents, some of which were forged and others that were out of date.
In one case a forged P45 and P60 were found in the defendant's possession when arrested. In another case a forged UK passport was recovered.
A number of defendants had no paperwork at all and could not explain how or when they entered Ireland in the first place.
Many were working or had been working on the basis of the forged papers.
One applicant explained to the court that he was working on forged papers in order to pay for hospital bills incurred following a shooting incident last year.
Some of the defendants will appear in court on Thursday others have been remanded until next week.
A further six cases are currently being heard in the district courts in Kilmainham and Tallaght.
Earlier today, Gardaí arrested five people facing deportation orders, in addition to the 34 suspected illegal immigrants.
The operation is expected to continue for the rest of the day and is expected to be extended to the rest of the country, although when that might happen is not yet clear.
Those arrested under Deportation Orders can be detained under the Immigration Act 1999 for a period of up to 8 weeks.
The illegal immigrants were arrested under Section 6 of the Aliens Act, 1935 which allows the gardaí to bring them before the courts.
According to Gardaí, there are currently 2,610 people evading deportation orders. These people have applied for asylum and have been refused.
To date this year 310 people have been deported by the Garda National Immigration Bureau.
Overall in 2001, 365 people were deported. In 2000, some 200 people were deported.
This evening, the Labour Party’s spokesperson on Justice Mr Pat Rabbitte TD, questioned today’s use of garda resources. Mr Rabbitte said he was surprised that while gangland violence is on the increase gardaí are in a position to prioritise illegal immigration.
"Clearly the Gardaí have an obligation to administer the law, and deportation orders legally made have to be enforced, but communities under siege from crime and vandalism are surely entitled to expect at least the same level of priority when it comes to policing," he said.