EU stops 169 illegal migrants at Belarus border

May 10, BPN. The European Union has not allowed 169 migrants to enter illegally from Belarus over the past day following 103 illegal crossing attempts on May 8.

The Lithuanian State Border Guard Service did not record illegal border crossings but said their Latvian colleagues thwarted 35 attempts.

The Polish Border Guard said that 134 foreigners, including nationals of Afghanistan, Haiti, Cuba, Pakistan, Senegal and Sudan, tried to illegally cross the border from Belarus.

Since the start of 2023, the EU has recorded a total of 12,278 attempts by illegal migrants to enter its territory from Belarus, with 8,675 attempts via Poland, 2,651 via Latvia and 952 via Lithuania. Illegal migrants attempted to cross the Belarus-EU border 1,478 times since the start of May.

Border crossing attempts rose from 1,989 and 2,034 in January and February to 3,401 and 3,440 in March and April, respectively.

The migration crisis at the Belarusian-EU border dates back to the spring of 2021. It escalated in November 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 in February 2022, but have risen more recently. Poland has been leading as the main destination for illegal migrants in 2023.