site.btaMigrant Accommodation Facilities Almost at Full Capacity, Interior Ministry Says

November 22 (BTA) - The Interior Ministry's migrant accommodation facilities are already 90 per cent full, the regular ministry report released on Monday shows.

Compared to September, when 76.8 per cent of the capacity was full, authorities have registered another rise in the number of accommodated 0 from 999 to 1,167 in October. The trend of most migrants (slightly over half) coming from Afghanistan continues. About one-third, or 365, are Syrians.

The number of accommodated migrants at the State Agency for Refugees' centres has also risen by 7 per cent, from 37.6 per cent in September to nearly 44 per cent full capacity in October. This means that 2,252 of the 5,150 places are occupied already.

Unlike the Interior Ministry facilities, the State Agency for Refugees centres accommodate mainly Syrians - 1,447 or 64.3 per cent of all accommodated migrants. Afghanis are under 30 per cent.

Sixty migrants were transferred in October. A total of 629 persons were returned from the beginning of 2021 until the end of October, including 111 subject to forced return and 390 under repatriation agreements.

The number of detainees in October also increased by 4 per cent compared to previous period. Nearly 1,700 citizens of third countries were detained, 281 of whom upon entry into Bulgaria, 142 upon leaving the country and 1,271 for illegal sojourn in the interior of the country. The detained in September numbered 1,626. The number of arrested upon entry rose by 82.5 per cent month-on-month, with 154 intercepted in September. A total of 8,254 third-country aliens were arrested in January-October, including 1,200 upon entry into the country and 921 at attempts to leave Bulgaria. A total of 6,133 were established as illegal sojourn. Compared to the total number of arrested in the same period of 2020 (2,638) this is a threefold increase.

Most of those detained upon entry in Bulgaria were intercepted at the border with Turkey. The majority of them come from Afghanistan (42.6 per cent) and Syria (31.2 per cent). A total of 258 were detained upon trying to leave, mostly at the border with Serbia where 197 were arrested. In this case, statistics registered a 4.1 per cent decline but an annual rise of over 44 per cent. Mostly Afghanis were detained upon trying to leave the country since the beginning of the year (55.3 per cent).

Illegal sojourn data show a decline of some 5 per cent, from 1,344 in September to 1,271 in October. Here, too, people from Afghanistan (71.4 per cent) and Syria (26.3 per cent) prevail. A total of 6,133 were established as such in January-October, 4.1-fold more than in the same period of 2020 when their number was 1,483. Then, too, they were mostly from Afghanistan (61.8 per cent) and Syria (29.9 per cent).