Illegal migration into Europe is on the rise through all the usual routes, Frontex said in its latest report.
According to data submitted by all affected member states, illegal immigration rose by nine percent in August to almost 13,000 registered cases.
Rmx.news highlights that the highest incidence of illegal border crossings was registered in the Eastern Mediterranean, from Turkey towards Greece. Two thirds of the cases when illegal migrants wanted to cross the European Union’s external frontier were registered in the Aegean Sea.
The Turkish and Greek coast guard reported more than 9,300 incidents, twice as many as in the same period in 2018. The majority of the migrants registered entering the EU via land or sea came from Afghanistan.
In the Central Mediterranean, the number of illegal migrants bound for Italy was 1,400, meaning an eight percent increase, with most of them coming from Tunisia, Sudan and Pakistan.
In the Western Mediterranean, illegal migrants targeting Spain rose by 43 percent to 1,600, mostly originating from the sub-Saharan region.
In the Western Balkans the number of illegal migrants stood at 600 in August, most of them from Afghanistan and Iran.
The Frontex report also said that in the first eight months of the year illegal migrants totalled 68,700, a 26 percent fall from the same period in 2018.
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