Illegal immigration to Switzerland almost halves
Swiss border guards recorded 16,563 cases of illegal migration last year, down from 27,300 cases in 2017 and 48,838 in 2016.
The Federal Customs AdministrationExternal link said on Thursday that the Swiss Border GuardExternal link had picked up 9,552 people on trains, 6,142 in road vehicles, 842 in planes and 27 on boats.
Most of those without valid papers were stopped in southern Switzerland: 4,832 in canton Ticino and 3,122 in canton Valais.
Regarding nationality, 2,433 people were from Nigeria, 1,176 from Gambia, 803 from Algeria, 792 from Morocco, 685 from Albania and 663 from Eritrea.
The previous year’s list was headed by people from Guinea, Nigeria and Gambia. In 2016, some 12,294 people had travelled from Eritrea alone.
More
‘Don’t come to Switzerland’ – the anti-tourism campaign
In compliance with the JTI standards
More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here. Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.