Austria as a hotspot

Serious offenses: smugglers fill prisons

The current tense situation in prisons will be a topic in the upcoming state parliament. The SPÖ advocates the consistent deportation of convicted smugglers.

The prisons are overcrowded. For the SPÖ with club chairman Roland Fürst, the situation is directly linked to international smuggling crime. "Austria has become a hotspot. This has led to a high number of asylum applications in the past two years, specifically 170,000," explains Fürst. More than 1,400 smugglers were arrested during this period, half of them in Burgenland. According to statistics, that is around 15 percent of all those detained in Austria.

Smugglers should be deported after detention
"Due to the seriousness of the offense, almost all of these smugglers receive a prison sentence. A large proportion of criminals remain in the country, especially those who do not come from Europe," states the SPÖ parliamentary group leader. He describes the repatriation system as full of holes. It does not stop smuggling gangs from continuing. Fürst calls for every smuggler to be deported after detention.

He also wants to add to the discussion that offenders should not have to serve their prison sentence in Austria in the first place, but outside the red-white-red state borders. "The debate is open."

15 to 30 refugees registered per week
A change of scene from the Landhaus in Eisenstadt to the Burgenland-Hungarian border: the images of large-scale apprehensions, sometimes involving more than 30 migrants, are a thing of the past. The number of official registrations currently ranges between 15 and just under 30 refugees per week. Only one smuggler was arrested in Burgenland in the first six weeks of this year.

Police confirm decline in apprehensions
At peak times in the summer of 2023, there were up to 30 arrests in just seven days. The police can only confirm the drastic decline in arrests at present. "The targeted measures such as increased border controls and Operation Fox have already been having an effect for three months," the executive confirms. The "Western Balkans" task force led by Austria is being further expanded in the fight against smuggling. "We want to be able to take action even more quickly and efficiently," it says.