On Friday, January 7, officials of the State Border Guard prevented 28 people from crossing the Latvian-Belarusian border illegally. On Saturday, January 8, 60 more people tried to enter Latvia illegally and on Sunday, January 9, another 33 people tried to cross. All were turned back.
Since 10 August 2021, a total of 4,475 people have been deterred from crossing the border illegally. There are no detainees at the weekend for illegal crossing of the state border.
Since the introduction of the state of emergency, 101 people have not been prevented from crossing the border on humanitarian grounds, and a total of 453 third-country nationals have been detained after illegally crossing in 2021 and 2022.
In the summer of 2021, the number of migrants trying to enter the territory of Latvia, Lithuania and Poland illegally increased significantly as a result of the state-sponsored human trafficking operation being run by the Lukashenko regime in Belarus. Most migrants have come from Iraq.
