This year, 4,105 people were prevented from illegally crossing the border, while 16 people were admitted to Latvia for humanitarian reasons.
Last autumn, on average, around 100 people were prevented from trying to enter Latvia per day, but after that, for several months, this number had significantly decreased, and for weeks, not a single attempt to illegally cross the border was detected. This year, on January 10, this year’s first attempts to enter Latvia illegally were detected.
As reported, the Ministry of Internal Affairs (IeM) has urged the government to extend the regime of enhanced border protection on the border of Belarus until March 12 of next year, according to the draft decision prepared by the ministry.
Currently, this regime is set until September 12, and it is proposed to be extended for six months. In the opinion of the Ministry of Interior, such a decision should be made “taking into account the disproportionately large number of cases of illegal crossing of the Latvian-Belarusian border and the number of attempted crossings”.
The enhanced control regime will be established in Ludza and Ludza county parishes, Krāslava and county parishes, Augšdaugava county, Daugavpils and Rēzekne county Kaunata parish.
At the end of the summer, Minister of the Interior Rihards Kozlovskis (JV) told journalists that the pressure of illegal immigration between the Baltic States and Poland has leveled off and to a certain extent is already becoming greater right on the Latvia-Belarus border.
Transporting illegal immigrants is a profitable business, therefore the actions of the services of the Russian and Belarusian sides are deliberate, for example, preparing and directing such persons to the border in time, he said. Also, the profile of illegal immigrants has changed and now they are mostly men in their prime, added the minister.
The minister did not deny that it is impossible to control the entire border in any country in the world, so some immigrants still manage to cross it. Taking into account the above, Latvia should continue to invest in optical cables in the creation of a smart border, as this would allow a faster response to illegal border crossing cases. The process has now started and is expected to be completed next year.
2024-09-03 20:29:31