ISLAMABAD, September 17, 2026: Pakistan has cut illegal migration to Europe by 64 percent, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi announced on Thursday, calling it a difficult goal met with limited resources. He made the announcement during separate meetings in Islamabad with Susanne Raab, Director General of the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD), and Hans Leijtens, Executive Director of Frontex, the EU’s Border and Coast Guard Agency. Naqvi said the next target is a full 100 percent reduction, and vowed the government would hit it “at all costs.”
Both officials praised Pakistan’s progress. Raab called the effort “commendable,” pointed to the Federal Investigation Agency’s risk-analysis report as a standout piece of work, and pledged continued cooperation toward eliminating illegal immigration entirely. Leijtens called Pakistan’s steps “admirable” and said Frontex would do its part to help reach the target.
Officials credit the drop to a sustained crackdown since 2025 on human smuggling and forged documents, tighter airport screening, and large-scale offloading of passengers flagged as immigration risks. The FIA offloaded nearly 40,000 passengers in 2025, arrested thousands of smuggling suspects, and registered thousands of cases. A dedicated Risk Analysis Unit now screens travelers against multiple risk profiles before departure. Authorities also linked immigration databases with NADRA and Interpol and stepped up monitoring on known and emerging smuggling routes, including the Central Mediterranean, where detections of Pakistani nationals have reportedly dropped sharply.
Mohsin Naqvi said the next step is installing modern, camera-equipped systems at 500 immigration counters across Pakistan’s airports, so people involved in illegal migration or human smuggling can be caught immediately. He also called for more legal migration channels to ease pressure on irregular routes, plus better-trained officers and modernized institutions to keep pace with current demands. Both meetings ended with a renewed commitment to intelligence sharing and joint enforcement, backing Pakistan’s stated goal of ending irregular migration for good
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