German daily: number of illegal migrants on German-Czech border on rise

The recent lifting of controls on the Czech-German border has led to “a dramatic rise” in the number of cases of illegal migrants crossing the border, the German daily Bild has written, citing statistics by the German police which have yet to be officially published. Internal border controls were lifted in late December when the Czech Republic joined the Schengen zone. According to Bild, more than 600 illegal migrants have been detained in German-Czech border areas in recent weeks alone. By comparison, the daily writes, 480 or so illegal migrants were detained along the German borders with Poland and the Czech Republic during the entire first half of 2007. Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek recently discussed the issue of illegal migration with his Austrian counterpart; both sides in those talks pledged more would have to be done to lessen the problem.

Author: Jan Velinger