Belarus route: 2215 migrants made it to Germany

The number of migrants on the so-called Belarus route is increasing again. From the beginning of January to the end of May, the Federal Police registered 2215 unauthorized entries to Germany on this route at the borders with Poland and the Czech Republic, as the authorities told the German Press Agency.

While there were only 26 in January and 25 in February, the number rose to 412 in March, 861 in April and 891 in May according to provisional data. Since the beginning of the year, 1021 unauthorized entries have been recorded in Brandenburg, 867 in Saxony and 327 in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.

Despite the upward trend, the overall figures are significantly lower than last year. By the end of May 2023, the Federal Police had detected a good 6,000 unauthorized entries on the Belarus route, as the Mediendienst Integration breaks down in a graphic. Unauthorized means that the people do not have the necessary papers or visas. If they apply for asylum in Germany, they are first registered and accommodated.

Poland and the European Union accuse Russia and Belarus of deliberately helping people from crisis regions to enter the EU illegally by providing visas and logistics. This began in 2021, and Poland has now erected a 5.5-metre-high fence at its external EU border.

However, the Polish border guard has noted that more people are trying to cross the border irregularly. The Polish border guard has registered 16,500 such attempts since the beginning of the year. In the same period in 2023, there were 11,200.