The government has decided to temporarily reinstate border controls with Slovakia due to illegal migration, mainly from Syria. “The measure will be in force from Thursday,” the head of the cabinet announced. It should end next Saturday.
Checks will be carried out at 27 border crossings and the green border. Exceptions will be made for farmers, foresters, and hunters in the border area.
Fiala said the security situation in the Czech Republic is stable. But the government must take this precautionary measure to discourage migrants from using this route.
“This is a revolutionary solution that the government is not happy about. But we have to react,” Rakušan, the interior minister, told the briefing.
At the same time, he claimed that illegal migration had increased 1,200 percent year on year. Since 2022, police have seized some 11,000 migrants in illegal transit, mostly traveling through the Czech Republic to Germany. Most of them were men from Syria, according to the ministry. “But they are originally from Turkey,” Rakušan specified.
Between June and the beginning of last week, police seized almost 9,500 migrants in the Czech Republic, compared to 1,330 last year. Most of them were discovered in the South Moravia and Zlín regions.
“We are telling the smugglers illegally crossing the Czech-Slovak border is out of the question. I assure you that we will not tolerate organized crime,” the minister also said.
He stated that the checks would be carried out so that regular cross-border traffic would be affected as little as possible. After ten days, the measures will be evaluated, and the government will decide on the next course of action.