A total of 352 irregular migrants who entered Latvia from Belarus and then attempted to reach Western Europe via Lithuania and Poland were detained in the first half of 2025, according to data released on Tuesday by the Lithuanian State Border Guard Service (VSAT).
This represents a 2.5-fold increase compared to the first half of 2024 when 140 migrants were apprehended.
According to the VSAT, 157 of the irregular migrants who entered from Latvia were detained by Lithuanian officers – most of them later returned to Latvia – and 195 by Polish officers.
Moreover, VSAT launched 25 investigations into illegal transportation of people and detained 31 migrant smugglers this year.
The majority of the detained migrants were citizens of Somalia and Afghanistan – 150 and 53, respectively.
Somali citizens questioned by Lithuanian border guards most often say they are travelling from Somalia via the United Arab Emirates to Russia, from there to Belarus, and then seek to enter Latvia, from where they usually travel to Germany.
According to the VSAT, migrants travel from Latvia in groups of several to a dozen people. Some use the services of smugglers, but some also travel by regular buses with foreign or forged documents.
According to the VSAT data, 5,914 migrants have attempted to enter Latvia this year before being detained and turned back to Belarus. Meanwhile, Lithuanian border guards have barred 890 migrants from entering irregularly from Belarus so far this year. In 2024, the number was 1,002.
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