"The return procedure should follow, which is rather difficult due to COVID right now. But, obviously, these people are coming in not because they are being persecuted by their regime or due to other causes, but economic reasons are simply forcing them to, first of all, come to Lithuania. Lithuania is a transit country. Then, probably, their goal is other western EU countries," Bilotate told the national radio LRT.
Lithuania is cooperating with the European border and coast guard agency FRONTEX and its officers are set to come to Lithuania in July, the minister said.
"The return procedure is not simple, it takes time. But we are now working with FRONTEX which organizes such joint return procedures for that process to be ensured in a better and simpler way," the minister said.
Lithuania plans to increase funding for border protection, Bilotaite said, adding that the EU's assistance is also expected.
She also reiterated that there's no need at the moment to declare a state of emergency in Lithuania. "We are managing the situation, we detain all illegal migrants, and it's not like that we have a leaky border. (…) Our officers are working great. We just have an unstable neighbor who is using, I would say, one of the hybrid war instruments, i.e., an attempt to affect us through illegal migration," the interior minister said.
Some 387 illegal migrants, mainly Iraqi citizens, have been detained while crossing illegally into Lithuania from Belarus this year, compared to 81 last year, 46 in 2019 and 104 in 2018.