The Number of Illegal Migrants Arriving in the EU Decreased

In 2019, about 10 percent fewer refugees will cross the external borders of the EU compared to the year 2018, the Frontex border service says. Greece has accepted the major part of the refugees. The number of illegal migrants crossing the EU border has dropped significantly, says Fabrice Leggeri, the director of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency in an interview to the German publication Die Welt on Thursday, December, 26. It is estimated that by the end of 2019, border guards will count about 120 thousand illegal entries into the EU. According to Leggeri, this is about 10 percent less than in 2018. A record number of external European borders illegal crossings was recorded in 2015 - then about 1.2 million migrants entered the EU. However, border guards note an increase in the number of illegal immigrants entering Greece and the Canary Islands. In 2019, the Canary Islands turned out to be 50% more illegal immigrants than a year earlier, said Leggeri. “We see an activization and better organization of illegal carriers networks on the route West Africa – Canary Islands,” he said. According to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, about 2,200 people were able to illegally get from Africa to the Canaries in 2019. There are less deths in the Mediterranean Earlier in December, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) released a report according to which the number of migrants who reached the European Union through the Mediterranean Sea in 2019 decreased by 5% compared to the previous year to 107,546 people. At the same time, Greece accepted the largest number of migrants, where about 60 thousand people were registered. The number of deaths decreased by 34% - up to 3170 people as of mid-December 2019 compared to 4800 people a year earlier. In total, in 2014-2019, more than 34 thousand refugees died in the Mediterranean Sea.