Czech Republic to Allocate $9.5Mln to Counter Undocumented Migration

The Czech government decided to allocate to the Internal Ministry additional 234 million Czech crowns to cope with undocumented migration.

PRAGUE (Sputnik) — The Czech government decided to allocate to the Internal Ministry additional 234 million Czech crowns (about $9.5 million) to cope with undocumented migration, the country’s Minister of the Interior Milan Chovanec said Monday.

Last week, the Czech government said it was ready to accept 1,500 refugees by 2017 and could start hosting the first of those in September.

"This year, our ministry will receive an additional 234 million crowns to solve the problem of illegal immigrants," Chovanec said.

He added that the total number of undocumented migrants in the country would amount to some 3,500 people in 2015 and would double in 2016.

Chovanec asked the government to allocate additional $45 million for 2016 since the ministry “cannot allow this people run freely through the streets.”

Recent conflicts in North Africa and the Middle East have triggered a wave of undocumented immigration to Europe.

The EU border agency Frontex estimates that over 276,000 people entered the European Union illegally in 2014, a 155-percent increase over the previous year.