Exclusive: How EU’s porous borders are fuelling UK’s boat migrants crisis
EU’s soaring illegal immigration problem – up 83% last year
How many are headed for the French coast and on to the UK?
Montage © Facts4EU.Org 2022
Facts4EU’s research of EU figures reveals how UK’s boat migrant problems could rocket
Facts4EU.Org Three-Part Immigration Series, May 2022
Part One - EU's border force turning back illegal migrant boats in Greece? - EU coastguard boss quits
Part Two (this report) - EU’s soaring illegal immigration problem – border detections up 83% last year
Part Three - The EU's dismal 6% record in deporting illegal migrants - now many are UK-bound?
Exclusive: Facts4EU.Org has been able to gain access to the database of the EU’s border and coastguard agency (Frontex) to reveal the extent of the EU’s rapidly escalating crisis in managing its borders. The number of illegal migrant detections in 2021 was up 83% on 2020, and even up 61% on the pre-Covid year of 2019.
Our analysis of official EU border agency and EU Commission data
shows why the UK needs to act immediately
These huge increases matter to the UK, because a significant proportion of illegal migrants entering the EU end up on the northern French coast seeking passage to the UK via people traffickers, using dinghies headed for the English coast.
These are only illegal migrant detections – actual entrants are much higher
The EU’s Frontex border agency only records illegal migrant detections. It does not record the actual number of immigrants who make it into the EU. Facts4EU has therefore also looked at the EU Commission’s data for the migrants the EU knows of, as a result of asylum applications.
Both sets of figures are damning and should be very worrying for Priti Patel and her Home Office team.
This second report focuses on Frontex’s figures for illegal migrant detections. In Part Three tomorrow we will provide data from the EU Commission on the number of asylum applications from those who have actually entered the EU.
Brexit Facts4EU.Org Summary
Illegal migrant detections by EU border agency Frontex, 2019-2021
- 2019 : 141,741
- 2020 : 125,110
- 2021 : 228,561
- Comparing 2021 to 2020, the numbers rose by 82.7%
- Comparing 2021 to 2019 (pre-Covid) the rise was 61.3%
© Brexit Facts4EU.Org 2022 - click to enlarge
Along some EU borders the increase has been more than 1000%
The overall average increase from 2019 to 2021 of 61.3% masks some truly extraordinary increases along some of the EU’s borders. Below we show some of these.
- Eastern Land Borders : +1214%
- Western African route : +924%
- Central Mediterranean : +423%
- Western Balkans : +385%
© Brexit Facts4EU.Org 2022 - click to enlarge
Facts4EU.Org asked Migration Watch UK for their comments
“This is an excellent piece of research which highlights what I have always felt is a major part of the root causes of illegal Channel crossings.
“The EU’s porous external borders, the Schengen arrangements and reluctance to return those without authority to be in the EU attracts increasing numbers from Africa, the Balkans and elsewhere. Many of those who end up crossing to the UK have already been denied asylum in the EU.
“This problem will only grow unless the EU takes decisive action at its external borders and removes many more of those who shouldn’t be in the EU. The Commission and Member States could start by ditching the woefully out-of-date Schengen arrangements, taking tougher action at the external borders and working with the UK to deal with what is an issue of major concern to the whole of Europe.”
- Alp Mehmet CVO, Chairman, Migration Watch UK, Mon 02 May 2022
More than 9 out of 10 illegal entries were male
To quote Frontex: “Just as in 2020, women continued to make up fewer than one in ten arrivals in 2021.” As regards other groups of vulnerable people, Frontex says “the reported share of minors was largely unchanged, as was that of unaccompanied minors” – but Frontex does not provide the data.
It is important to note that once detected, the vast majority of these illegal migrants are not returned.
In 2021, Frontex says Syrians remained the most frequently claimed nationality of the people detected when crossing the border without permission, followed by Tunisians, Moroccans, Algerians and Afghans.
Frontex’s last press release on this entire matter was in January and is out of date. Facts4EU.Org was able to access the main database, which was last updated on 05 April. Our figures are therefore far more accurate than Frontex’s last press release.
About Frontex – a foreign, uniformed corps on the sovereign soil of nation states
Click to enlarge
For the first time in its history, the European Union has its own uniformed service – the EU Border and Coast Guard standing corps.
In total, by 2027 the EU Border and Coast Guard will comprise 10,000 people, among them 3,000 Frontex staff. The other 7,000 officers will be seconded from EU Member States in a typical sleight of hand by the EU Commission to keep them off the EU budget.
In effect all EU member countries with an external border now have an EU-uniformed foreign corps on their sovereign territories, controlling their borders on a day-to-day basis.
Observations
Why this matters to the United Kingdom
Whenever confronted by uncomfortable truths about the EU which they can’t refute, Rejoiners now have a habit of making snide remarks such as “What do you care? Didn’t you know the UK is no longer a member?”
This attitude is of course wholly disingenuous on many levels.
1. The EU’s growing illegal immigration problem becomes a problem for the UK
Firstly, a lot of what the EU does is directly relevant to the UK, as in this case. If the EU can’t control its borders, hundreds of thousands of illegal migrants enter, and a significant proportion of these head for the northern coast of France to take people traffickers’ dinghies to cross the English Channel and enter the UK.
This most definitely impacts the British people and the problem is escalating fast – partly due to the apparent inability or unwillingness of the Macron government or the EU Commission to do anything meaningful about it.
2. The nature of the EU which Rejoiners want us to go back into
Secondly, Rejoiners are campaigning en masse to take the UK back into the EU as soon as there is a British government which has pro-EU sympathies.
The EU they wish us to rejoin is now clearly embarked on a journey to become a ‘United States of Europe’ as soon as possible. As each month goes by, the EU takes more steps along this path. It is essential that the British people are made aware of what the EU is becoming.
3. The United Kingdom is a world power with considerable influence
Thirdly, the UK is a powerful nation and the EU countries sit on its doorstep. What happens in its neighbourhood matters to the UK’s interests.
Across the EU there are countless eurosceptic organisations, all in need of our support. As Facts4EU reported only yesterday, the EU’s ‘Conference on the Future of Europe (sic)’ made a range of decisions so anathema to freedom-loving people that a swathe of MEPs walked out.
Despite what Rejoiners would have the British people believe, (that the UK is a small country unable to survive on its own), our newly independent country is flourishing and is beating the EU on many important levels.
Facts4EU has been holding conversations with eurosceptic colleagues in other countries – and has even been instrumental in giving them significant support. We will write more about this in a subsequent article.
We may not wish to be part of the sclerotic EU empire, but we still love Europe and would like to see its people remain free.
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[ Sources: Frontex database | EU Commission ] Politicians and journalists can contact us for details, as ever.
Brexit Facts4EU.Org, Tues 03 May 2022
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