Prague, June 28 (CTK) – Czech authorities have detained 2500 illegal immigrants since the beginning of the year and the number in the first five months was 42 percent higher than in 2014, Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka said in the Questions of Vaclav Moravec on Czech Television (CT) Sunday.
He criticised the European Commission’s (EC) proposal to introduce mandatory quotas for the spread of illegal immigrants across the EU by which it did not respect the previous European Council’s conclusions.
Sobotka repeated that the Czech Republic recently tightened security measures with regard to the swelling migration wave.
He said the Czech Republic will raise its asylum facilities’ capacity in reaction to the developments.
Sobotka said the facility in Vysni Lhoty, north Moravia, will most probably be put into service.
The security measures, including those the Czech Republic took after the terrorist attacks in France and Tunisia on Friday, will be assessed by the National Security Council board tonight.
Sobotka said it could also set a limit for detained illegal migrants beyond which the control of the country’s border would be heightened.
Currently, an average of 15 illegal migrants are detained a day in the country.
“If this nubmer rose by minimally 100 percent, it would be necessary to at least discuss it and possibly take further measures,” Police President Tomas Tuhy said on CT.
However, he said, the police do not have the capacity to introduce regular controls along the state border.
“I would be really very glad if the government kept the situation under control. For this reason, we may have to reinforce our engagement along the border of the Czech Republic particularly with Slovakia and Austria,” Sobotka said.
If need be, the Czech Republic would also deploy the military, Sobotka said. However, at the moment, the migration flow is not so strong as to require the deployment of soldiers that would entail higher costs.
Sobotka repeated the Czech Republic could accept hundreds of refugees, but he did not specify the number.
He said the European Council’s negotiations about refugee quotas last week have been the stormiest he has experienced during the one and a half years he has been the prime minister.
He praised cooperation of the Visegrad Four (V4) countries within the negotiations.
The V4 is comprised of the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia.
Sobotka said it will be necessary to set the system so that all refugees coming to Europe be registered. The system must also ensure that those who are not granted asylum be returned to their country of origin.
Tuhy said the police have included the swelling illegal migration and a possible protection of the state border in its development concept that has been sent to the government.
According to it, the number of police should go up by one tenth. The increases should be the highest in the riot and foreigner police corps and in the criminal service. The costs are estimated at around ten billion crowns.
The influx of refugees has been reflected in a growth of rightist extremism. Recently, Czech radicals were detained in an anti-refugee demonstration in Bratislava.
