Belgium will start carrying out checks at the country’s internal borders this summer to combat illegal migration. According to Asylum Minister Anneleen Van Bossuyt, these checks mainly apply to buses, trains, and flights that cross the border.
The internal border checks are intended to stop migrants without papers or migrants who have already applied for asylum in another EU member state, writes VRT. The measures should ensure that Belgium is no longer a “magnet for migration,” says Van Bossuyt.
Asylum seekers who have already registered in another country will have to return to that country more quickly. Undocumented migrants will be ordered to leave Belgium. If they refuse, they will go to a forced return center. There they can stay until they are deported, the minister explains.
Van Bossuyt wants to include checks on buses. “Everyone knows the Flixbuses,” she says. That is a bus company that offers long-distance travel. But she also wants checks on trains, for example when they arrive in Brussels-South. Furthermore, flights from Schengen countries such as Germany and Greece should be checked.
The internal border checks should be introduced this summer, because according to her, migration flows often increase during the summer period.
Checks not a means to reduce the number of asylum applications
Belgium is following the example of the Netherlands and Germany, which already started checking the internal borders last year. The Dutch cabinet wants to stop undocumented migrants and combat crime such as human trafficking and document fraud. The pressure on the asylum chain should also be reduced.
But the border checks are not a means to reduce the number of asylum applications, the Netherlands Court of Audit concluded earlier this month based on the first results of those checks.