The head of the European Union’s Frontex border agency has said that as it is impossible for Europe to stop illegal migration, the bloc should take a more open borders approach to foreigners breaching its borders.
In an interview with the German Welt am Sonntag newspaper, Hans Leijtens, who was became the executive director of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex) in March last year, declared: “Nothing can stop people from crossing a border, no wall, no fence, no sea, no river.”
Breitbart reports: The Frontex chief, who with a budget of nearly 900 million euros is tasked with defending the bloc from illegals breaking into Europe, argued that there should be “an end to this superficial preoccupation with the issue” and that people should stop engaging in “alarmism” over the mass waves of foreigners — many of whom go through minimal security screening — into their country.
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Leijtens said that rather than solely focusing on stopping illegal migrants, he sees it as part of his remit to seek to shift the entire debate on migration towards to being less prejudicial and supposedly more humane.
“Who am I to presume to condemn migrants? I’m sitting here in my office in Warsaw, of course I could do that – but that would be too easy.” the Dutch politician said. “This talk of ‘stopping people’ and ‘closing borders’ cannot be our narrative all the time. My job is to create a balance between effective border management and compliance with fundamental rights.”
The open borders sentiments from the man in charge of protecting the EU’s borders may throw cold water on recently passed reforms of the Common European Asylum System (CEAS), which say that rather than allowing all illegals into the bloc to have their asylum claims processed in Europe, migrants should have their claims assessed at external borders and if they are rejected should be deported immediately.
Prior to taking office, Leijtens vowed that Frontex would not conduct migrant “pushbacks”, saying last January: “Pushbacks, and of course I’m responsible for Frontex operations by Frontex officers, are not legal so they should be, well, they are forbidden. So I’m responsible for the fact that my people don’t participate in anything called a pushback. I think that is absolutely clear. That’s the legal framework I work in.”
The latest comments come as previously pro-mass migration governments throughout Europe are seeking to clamp down on illegal migration and ramp up deportations, including in Belgium, France, Germany, and Sweden in the wake of terror attacks in Belgium and France following the October 7th Hamas terror attacks on Israel.
