Hundreds of thousands of migrants cross the European Union's external borders every year.

Omissions

• The most recent full-year data available before the session (2025, published by Frontex on 15 January 2026) shows a 26% decline from 2024, meaning annual detections had fallen below 200,000 — so the claim that 'hundreds of thousands' cross 'every year' no longer holds for the latest year.
• Frontex data are 'detections' of irregular border crossings at the external borders, not a count of individual migrants; the same person crossing more than once is counted multiple times, so the number of persons is lower than the detections figure.
• The figure covers detections at the EU's external borders (a border-management statistic), not the number of migrants entering or residing in the EU, and does not include regular migration, which is far larger in scale.
• The claim relies on the high-arrival years 2022–2024 and omits the sustained downward trend reported by Frontex for 2025 and the first months of 2026.

Sources

• PrimaryFrontex — 'Irregular border crossings into EU drop sharply in 2024''New preliminary data from Frontex reveal a significant 38% drop in irregular border crossings into the EU in 2024, reaching the lowest level since 2021'; '239 000 detections recorded last year.'
• PrimaryFrontex — '2024 in brief''In 2024, the number of irregular border crossings at the European Union's external borders reached a total of just over 239 000.'
• PrimaryFrontex — 'Irregular border crossings down 26% in 2025, Europe must stay prepared''Irregular border crossings down 26% in 2025'; 'In 2025, the Central Mediterranean remained the most active migration route into the EU, with detection levels broadly in line with 2024.' (consolidated figures for 2025, published 15 January 2026)
• PrimaryFrontex — 'Irregular border crossings into the EU down 40% in the first five months of 2026''Nearly 39 000 crossings were recorded, according to preliminary data collected by Frontex' in the first five months of 2026, a 40% decline.