EU records more than 15,000 illegal border crossing attempts this year

May 28, BPN. The EU has not allowed 69 migrants to enter illegally from Belarus over the past day.

The Lithuanian State Border Guard Service spotted no trespassers in the Lithuanian-Belarusian border area.

Citing Latvia’s State Border Guard, it said 37 illegal attempts to cross the Belarusian-Latvian border were documented.

The Polish Border Guard said that 32 foreigners tried to illegally cross the border from Belarus, including Indian and Yemeni nationals.

Since the start of 2023, the EU has recorded at least 15,009 attempts by illegal migrants to enter its territory, with 10,325 attempts via Poland, 3,573 via Latvia and 1,111 via Lithuania.

BPN’s analysis of daily stats indicates growing tension on the Belarusian-EU border. There were 1,989 illegal attempts in January, 1,970 in February, 3,401 in March and 3,440 in April, with Poland being the prime target.

The migration crisis at the Belarusian-EU border dates back to the spring of 2021. It escalated on November 8, 2021, when thousands of migrants set up a camp near the Polish border. The Baltic states and Poland accused Belarusian authorities of creating the trouble, while the latter blamed it on the West.

Migration figures had dropped significantly by the time Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, but have risen more recently.