The number of irregular border crossings into the European Union fell significantly in 2024, according to the bloc's border control agency Frontex, something which it attributed to intensified cooperation against smuggling networks. The Warsaw-based agency said in a statement that its preliminary data for last year reveal a 38 per cent drop in irregular border crossings into the 27-member bloc. The data refers to the number of detections of irregular border crossing at the external borders of the EU, not the total number of people who tried to cross. In some cases the same person may cross the border several times in different locations at the external border, Frontex notes. The agency said that there were just over 239,000 detections of irregular border crossings, the lowest number registered since 2021, when migration was lower due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The agency said that despite the overall decrease, challenges persist, including dangerous sea crossings resulting in ...