EU countries strengthen border control with new technology to curb illegal immigration

A 2021 EU directive rejected member states using community funds on walls or fences, considering that it is not the “most efficient” strategy for border control. That is why, since then, several countries – especially in southern and eastern Europe – have promoted the development of new technologies at their border crossings, such as thermal cameras, X-ray systems and, more recently, the use of artificial intelligence. Tools that, used to curb irregular immigration and to counter the Russian threat, pose a danger to the rights of migrants and refugees.

This is the conclusion of a report published on Thursday by the European Council of Refugees and Exiles and the Brussels-based Platform for International Cooperation for Undocumented Migrants. The study analyses how Member States spend the nearly €4 billion from the EU Integrated Border Management Fund for the 2021-2027 financial year. The vast majority of countries – with the exception of Germany and Latvia, which do not make their data public, and Ireland, which does not benefit from this fund – use their allocation to renew the infrastructure of border crossings and modernise their surveillance systems.

Among the main modernisation bets are those of the Eastern and Baltic states, motivated by the Russian threat. Estonia, for example, plans to spend two million euros on “innovative remote sensing systems”. For their part, Lithuania and Poland will invest 138 million to reinforce monitoring systems on the border with Belarus, which, in addition to being the Kremlin’s greatest political and military ally in Europe, represents a threat to its neighbours since 2021, when the migration crisis orchestrated by the Minsk regime began.

“We have seen in recent years that the European Commission and countries that share borders with Ukraine and Russia have strengthened their controls. However, the event that most encourages these countries to spend is the tension on the border with Belarus,” says Chiara Catelli, author of the study. The number of attempts to enter Poland has intensified in recent months and border management, in a context of several elections, has become a priority for Warsaw. Episodes of tension have been frequent. One of the latest occurred at the beginning of June, when a soldier was stabbed to death by a migrant. The Polish plan, says the report, focuses on investing in surveillance towers, mobile perimeter systems and thermal and night vision devices.

AI for irregular immigration

But it is the Mediterranean countries that make the biggest use of this fund by far. Greece, Spain and Italy – where most migrants arrive illegally – receive more than 1.7 billion euros. Athens alone has around 1 billion euros available for projects dedicated to improving its tools that use artificial intelligence. This is because in April, the Greek data protection authority imposed a fine of 175,000 euros on the Ministry of Asylum and Migration for the use of two surveillance systems that used behavioural analysis algorithms, on which no prior evaluations were carried out.

Catelli notes that he has monitored “with great concern” the impact that the use of artificial intelligence in border controls may have on the rights of migrants. “A lot of different tools are being developed, but we do not see enough safeguards. The European Commission has already used the argument of proportionality to prevent States from using the fund’s money to build walls and fences, but there are a number of technological systems that present a similar risk,” such as thermal cameras in Lithuania, or X-ray identification promoted by Hungary or Romania.

The report highlights the case of Malta, which, despite its key location for rescue operations in the Mediterranean, does not allocate any expenditure on maritime equipment, but only on aerial surveillance equipment. “These findings confirm a general trend that has characterised Malta’s progressive disengagement from its rescue obligations. In recent years, this country has ignored distress calls and criminalised rescue at sea,” as denounced by international observers, such as the UN Human Rights Office.

Spain is also highlighted as one of the Member States that invests the most in cooperation with third countries, particularly in the deployment of agents and vehicles in areas from which most migrants undertake their journey to Europe. An investigation by Morning Express with Lighthouse Reports revealed that Mauritania and Morocco use vans provided by Spain to throw migrants into the desert, in a method known as pushbacks, the aim of which is to discourage people from undertaking the route to Europe. Austria, Italy and Portugal also cooperate with countries such as Tunisia, Egypt and Angola. The purpose, they argue, is to collaborate in the fight against smuggling and human trafficking.

Of the nearly €4 billion provided by the EU to Member States, only 0.04% is allocated to initiatives designed “to increase support and assistance to vulnerable people and people wishing to apply for international protection,” the study claims. Among the programmes of the 24 countries to which the organisations have had access, only those of Croatia and Finland have invested in these priorities. At the end of November, Helsinki announced the closure of its border with Russia after the arrival of hundreds of asylum seekers, “a Russian interference,” as the Finnish government described it.

Despite countries’ efforts to modernise their border controls, people continue to arrive in Europe irregularly at an accelerated rate. Frontex, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, recorded that in 2023 the number of irregular arrivals reached 380,000, the highest level since 2016 and 17% more than in 2022.

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