Illegal immigration

Security forces carried out five-day operations targeting illegal migration, apprehending 1,117 irregular migrants during the Eid holiday across the country, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya has announced.

In a post on the social media platform X on April 12, Yerlikaya stated that the operations dubbed "Shield-19" also included inspections with mobile migration checkpoints.

The Interior Ministry has heightened its scrutiny over illegal migrants in Istanbul, nearly doubling the number of checkpoints dispersed throughout the city, Minister Ali Yerlikaya has announced.

Bulgaria's Border Police Directorate General has revealed a significant surge in migrant attempts to cross the country's borders during the summer of 2023 compared to the previous year.

A 20-year-old foreign national was arrested in Thessaloniki in the early hours of Sunday for migrant smuggling. 

During routine police checks on the Thessaloniki National Road, a vehicle, driven by the accused, sped excessively in an attempt to evade inspection breaking toll barriers at three toll booths.

Greek authorities have apprehended two undocumented migrants from Iraq, aged 23 and 26, in the northwestern port of Igoumenitsa as they attempted to travel to Italy concealed within a freight truck. 

Additionally, a 52-year-old suspected smuggler, also from Iraq, has been detained in connection with the same incident.

According to the General Directorate Border Police from the beginning of the year until January 31, nearly 1980 citizens from third countries attempted to cross the Bulgarian-Turkish border illegally. This number is 69% lower compared to January last year when it was around 6380, as reported by the Ministry of Interior.

Texas doubled down on using razor wire to repel migrants after the Supreme Court ruled that Border Patrol agents can cut through the wire to allow illegal immigrants into the country

Nearly 100 migrants have died or disappeared in the central and eastern Mediterranean, including Greek seas, since the beginning of 2024, more than double the toll recorded last year during the same period, the UN migration agency said on Monday.

Bulgarian authorities apprehended 18,554 third-country nationals as illegal migrants in 2023, reflecting a significant 10.7% surge compared to the previous year, according to data released by the Interior Ministry.

Bulgaria is poised to actively participate in the distribution of a minimum of 30,000 illegal migrants across the EU annually, according to the newly proposed pact on migration and asylum. As a crucial border country, Bulgaria stands to benefit from the pact's mandatory solidarity mechanism, reshaping how the EU accepts, assesses, and manages illegal migrants.