This year, the number of illegal border crossings with the EU has become a record since 2016. This was reported by the EU agency for external border security Frontex.
Thus, in the first 11 months of this year, 355,300 people illegally crossed the border with the European Union, which is the highest figure since 2016. The majority of illegal immigrants chose the route through the Central Mediterranean – more than 152,200 cases. Along the English Channel route, an estimated 58,300 illegal border crossings were detected on both sides in 2023.
“Sea crossings continue to be dangerous for people migrating illegally. This year, 2,511 people have gone missing in the Mediterranean. The vast majority of them traveled along the dangerous Central Mediterranean route,” the agency clarifies.
According to Frontex, there has been an unprecedented rise in illegal EU border crossings for the first time since the agency began collecting data in 2009, with the number of arrivals in November jumping by more than 500% compared to the same month last year to almost 4,700.