On Tuesday, attempts of 47 immigrants to illegally cross the Latvia-Belarus border were prevented

On Tuesday, the State Border Guard prevented the attempt of 47 illegal immigrants to illegally cross the Latvia-Belarus border, the border guard informed.

In total, 838 people have been prevented from illegally crossing the border this year, and seven people have been admitted for humanitarian reasons.

Last fall, on average, around 100 people were prevented from trying to enter Latvia per day, but after that, for several months, this number had significantly decreased, and for weeks, no attempt to illegally cross the border was detected. This year, on January 10, this year’s first attempts to enter Latvia illegally were detected.

As the pressure of illegal immigration increases, from March 13th to September 12th, the enhanced operating regime of the border guard system is again in effect on the Latvian-Belarusian border.

Last year, 13,863 people were prevented from illegally crossing the state border, and 428 people were admitted for humanitarian reasons. On the other hand, in 2022, 5,286 people’s attempts to illegally cross the Latvia-Belarus border were prevented, while 217 people were not prevented from crossing the border due to humanitarian reasons.

In connection with the pressure of illegal immigration, until February 10 of this year, in several administrative territories on the border of Belarus, a strengthened operating regime of the border protection system was in force, which last August replaced the state of emergency established by the government in August 2021 and repeatedly extended. In connection with the pressure of illegal immigration, the enhanced mode of operation of the border guard system on the border of Belarus was no longer continued from February 11 of this year, but the operation of the Silene border crossing point was not restored.

Latvia-Belarus border. Photo: Gints Ivuskans / AFP