The European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex) detected between January and April of this year 80,700 irregular entries of migrants towards the European Union (EU), which is the highest level recorded since 2016, after the migratory crisis of Syrian refugees.
In all, the tickets irregular detected in the first four months of 2023 rose 30% compared to the figures for the previous year, mainly due to the 292% increase in arrivals through the central mediterraneanessentially Italy.
According to Frontex, on this route where the main destination is the island of Lampedusa, the mafias that are dedicated to human trafficking They increasingly use improvised metal boats, which are assembled a few hours before leaving and which end up being towed by fishing boats.
So far this year, this access route has concentrated around half of the irregular entries of migrants into the EU, and the community agency for control Border officials warned in a statement that trafficking groups “are taking advantage of the political volatility in some of the countries of departure” to increase their activity.
Instead, arrivals on the route of the western mediterraneanwhose access route essentially passes through Spain, fell by 15% between January and April of this year, with 2,876 registered entries, led mainly by people from Morocco, Ivory Coast and Senegal, according to Frontex data.
In all the routes of entry to the EU, the nationality Syria has been the most detected so far in 2023, representing 17% of interceptions, although its presence has been decreasing in recent months due to the rise in citizens of countries in the Africa sub-Saharan countries, such as Guinea, which multiplied its arrivals by eight, or the Ivory Coast, which increased by four.