Swiss borders face increased migrant pressure

Eritrean migrants in a park by the train station in Como. They are waiting to travel to Switzerland Keystone

So far this year Swiss authorities have picked up 22,181 people who entered Switzerland illegally, a third of those in July alone. Guards on the Italian border have been particularly busy, turning away 4,149 people last month.

In July alone, 3,560 people who had made it across the border into TicinoExternal link, the Italian-speaking southern canton, were immediately sent back to Italy – more than the number of people for the whole first seven months of 2015.

The Swiss Border GuardExternal link said on Wednesday that since the beginning of this year, 8,298 people had been stopped at Swiss borders, up from 3,526 people for the same period in 2015.

The number of illegal immigrants found in Switzerland – 22,181 – had also increased from 13,213 for the same period last year. Most of these people came from Eritrea. Many others, including those stopped at the border, had travelled from Gambia, Afghanistan, Nigeria and Somalia.

Guards could not determine the nationality for 1,284 people, who had either lost their identity papers in conflicts or the long and risky journey, or had thrown them away or hidden them.

So far this year Ticino has been the main point of entry for 60% of illegal arrivals, whose final destination is thought to be Germany or Scandinavia – although the Swiss Border Guard didn’t provide figures for this.

It is also striking that just under 85% of the 22,181 people picked up by border guards came by train. Some 13% came by road and only 2.25% by plane. Eighteen people tried to find a way into Switzerland aboard a boat.

African influx

On Wednesday, Amnesty International warned of a build-up of migrants on Italy’s border with Switzerland and demanded clarification from Swiss authorities over reports by children that they had been sent back when trying to join their parents there.

Switzerland said the build-up was due to an influx of African migrants seeking passage to north European countries such as Germany. Any individual requesting asylum would be granted the opportunity.

Martin Reichlin of the State Secretariat for Migration said he would expect any child arriving at the border and attempting to join relatives in Switzerland to be delivered to the care of his organisation.

Several hundred migrants have been sleeping near the train station in Como, Italy, since July after a Swiss clampdown on crossings.