In total, 3,913 people have been prevented from illegally crossing the border this year, and 16 people have been 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 the pressure of illegal immigration increases, from March 13 to September 12, the enhanced operating regime of the border guard system is again in effect on the Latvian-Belarusian border.
As reported, commenting on the fact that last week four groups of illegal immigrants and their transporters were detained already after crossing the border, the Minister of Internal Affairs Rihards Kozlovskis (JV) told journalists on Tuesday that the pressure of illegal immigration between the Baltic States and Poland has leveled off and is already becoming to some extent larger one 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, the minister added.
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 crossings. The process has now started and is expected to be completed next year.
2024-08-20 06:17:31