The first quarter of 2022 was “the busiest in terms of illegal border crossings at the EU’s external borders since the migratory crisis in 2016”, Frontex said in new statistics on Tuesday 19 April.
More than 40,300 illegal crossings were detected between January and March 2022, 57% more than a year ago, refugees from Ukraine are not part of the count. “In the month of March, nearly 11,700 irregular migrants were recorded at the EU external borders, 29% more than in the same month of 2021”.
The Western Balkan route (+115% in Q1) was one of the most used, accounting for almost half of all illegal crossings. The main nationalities detected were Syrians and Afghans. Next is the Eastern Mediterranean route (+132%), where the number of arrivals of irregular migrants doubled between January and March to more than 7,000, largely in Cyprus. Next is the West African route (+70%).
The number of illegal migrants seeking to cross the Channel to the UK has also almost tripled compared to last year, to more than 8,900 people, Frontex said.
Link to statistics: https://aeur.eu/f/1a4 (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)