Migrant crossings from Tunisia to Europe have fallen rapidly
The number of undocumented migrants crossing from Tunisia to Europe has fallen rapidly from 97,667 in 2023,to 19,245 in 2024. According to Chinese news outlet Xinhuanet.com on January 22nd, Tunisian private radio station Mosaique FM initially reported these numbers, citing an unspecified senior security official.
“This remarkable decrease highlights the effectiveness of the measures taken to address immigration challenges and strengthen border security,” said Khaled Jrad, Central Director of the General Inspection of the National Guard and head of the Committee for Illegal Immigration.
Jrad stated around 80,000 undocumented migrants were intercepted at sea in 2024. He also estimated that approximately 20,000 undocumented migrants were concentrated in the El Amra and Jebniana areas of the southeastern province of Sfax. However, no accurate statistics could be gathered on their numbers in the rest of the regions across the country.
According to Euractiv, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has claimed credit for this drop in the number of migrants from Northern Africa.
She argues her governments work has caused this drastic decline in numbers, this work includes securing agreements with countries of migrant origin, like Tunisia and Libya, curbing departures at the source. Alongside this Italy has established migration hubs in third countries in order to process asylum applications externally. This has led to a decline not only in Italy but in other European countries too.
Xinhuanet.com,Euractiv
