Marat Pistaev, head of the migration police in Kazakhstan\'s Interior Ministry, told journalists in Almaty on 31 January that he opposes efforts to tighten legislation on migrant workers. \"In Russia now, they want to legalize labor migration, they want up to legalize up to 1 million people who have entered legally and are working illegally,\" Pistaev said. \"We want to study their experience and then make our proposals to the Labor Ministry.\" Pistaev said the Interior Ministry estimates that 300,000 illegal migrants from Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan were employed in Kazakhstan in 2005. He said he disagrees with estimates that put the number of migrant workers in Kazakhstan at 1 million, although he admitted that illegal labor migration is on the rise. (Interfax-Kazakhstan)