Balance for the year 2023

This is how many refugees were apprehended in Tyrol

Most illegal migrants were picked up on the street (archive image).

(Bild: Christof Birbaumer)

Last year, the Tyrolean police apprehended significantly fewer illegal residents or people who had entered the country than in 2022. 4612 apprehensions in total represented a decrease of 17.4 percent. This is despite the fact that the number of landings in Italy recently rose significantly to 167,000. Provincial Police Director Helmut Tomac speaks of an "increasingly calming situation" and a "positive trend".

The comparison of landings in Italy and apprehensions in Tyrol shows that these have not been reflected 1:1 on the southern border of Tyrol, explains Harald Baumgartner, Head of the Aliens and Border Police Department. On the contrary - apprehensions in Tyrol have decreased. Baumgartner sees a "route shift", also due to "high control density".

Refugees are moving further and further west
Migrants are increasingly heading west instead of towards the Brenner Pass - "i.e. Switzerland, France, Spain and Portugal", Tomac continues. Arrivals from Italy only accounted for 45% of the total number of arrivals last year - in the past, this percentage was "significantly higher", explains Baumgartner. The remaining arrests were people who had come to Tyrol from the east.

In 2016, we still had individual platoons with this number.

Tirols Landespolizeidirektor Helmut Tomac

Bild: Christof Birbaumer

The situation has "increasingly calmed down"
In the previous year, around 50 to 70 arrivals per week were recorded, in 2022 it was 150 to 170. "In 2016, we still had individual trains with this number," Tomac looks back. The situation has "increasingly calmed down". Precautions were also taken in the previous year to optimize police work. Since the refugee movement in 2015, a new organizational and personnel structure has been put in place. In the previous year, for example, the reorganization of searches on the freeway and the opening of the Brenner police station for this purpose are worth mentioning.

"Tyrol is a transit country, not a destination"
Tomac also alludes to the joint operation "Fox" between Austria and Hungary, as part of which Austrian officers carry out police work in Hungary. He also praised the bilateral efforts of the federal government with regard to repatriations. In general, a "positive trend" is emerging, Tomac says with satisfaction.

However, the following still applies: "Tyrol is a transit country, not a destination country," says the provincial police director. 1322 asylum applications were registered in the previous year - again significantly fewer than in 2022 (1948). Some of the applications also resulted from overflow regulations due to an influx that Burgenland could no longer cope with.

1322 asylum applications were registered in Tyrol in the previous year (symbolic image).

(Bild: stock.adobe.com)

These were the "top countries of origin"
A total of 277 people were deported back to Italy or Germany in the previous year, while 2415 people were readmitted in return. 29 smugglers were reported (2022: 28). The "top countries of origin" for illegal migration in the previous year were Syria (540 people), followed by Morocco (377), Turkey (366) and Pakistan (238). In 2022, Pakistan (649) led the statistics ahead of Syria (617), Morocco (475) and India (441).

61.57 percent of apprehensions took place on the street, 38.43 percent on the train. "The largest group continues to be young men," emphasizes Baumgartner, with 3697 men compared to 704 women and 211 children in the statistics.

As far as further developments are concerned, "we have to observe how things continue in the Balkan region", explains Baumgartner. Many refugees are also currently staying in Lebanon, which is why it is important to keep an eye on any flight movement towards Europe.