The Dutch authorities have revealed that the country has prevented a large number of foreigners from entering its territory irregularly since the beginning of this year until the end of October.
According to the data provided by Marechaussee, the border police have denied entry to a total of 497 people at its land borders with Germany and Belgium by the end of last month, Schengen.News reports.
As the authority explained, those who were not permitted entry were trying to access the Netherlands irregularly.
In addition to the above-mentioned, the authority also disclosed that the border police checked more than 115,000 people entering the Netherlands via its land borders.
At the same time, it revealed that of those who were stopped for checks, 628 people applied for asylum in the country.
Compared to some other EU member states that are at the forefront of the external borders, the Netherlands does not register a high number of irregular entries. However, these numbers are still concerning, pushing the authorities to take measures.
Netherlands Will Introduce Internal Schengen Border Controls on December 9
In an attempt to address irregular migration and human trafficking, the Dutch authorities just recently announced that the country would introduce internal border controls with its neighbouring Schengen countries starting December 9.
Announcing the news, the Minister of Migration of the Netherlands, Marjolein Faber, said that the time has come for the country to take measures on the matter and deal with such concerns in a concrete way.
As explained by the authorities, the internal border controls of the Netherlands with its neighbouring countries will remain in place for a period of six months. This means that the measure will apply until June 2025.
Several Schengen Countries Have Introduced & Extended Border Controls Recently
The Netherlands is not the only Schengen member state that has decided to take measures and tighten entry into the country through its land borders.
In September of this year, Germany decided to introduce land border controls with all its neighbouring countries for six months. Since this measure has been implemented, everyone entering the country via land has been undergoing checks.
In addition, France has also reinstated internal border checks with its neighbouring countries. The French authorities said that this measure was introduced due to concerns about irregular migration and terrorist threats.
Other Schengen member countries, such as Austria and Norway, have extended their border controls.
Austria prolonged checks with Hungary and Slovenia until May 2025, and Norway extended controls until December 1.
Source: https://schengen.news/netherlands-prevented-nearly-500-irregular-entries-so-far-this-year/
