Pakosta seeks tougher penalties for migrant smuggling

Estonian Justice and Digital Affairs Minister Liisa Pakosta has proposed sharply increasing prison sentences for arranging the illegal entry of migrants, ERR reported. She sent the proposal to the Government Office and the parliamentary Legal Affairs Committee as lawmakers consider amendments to the Penal Code.

Under the proposal, arranging an unlawful border crossing would carry a prison sentence of up to five years. If the offence is committed in a life-threatening manner, repeatedly or against two or more people, the sentence would be between one and seven years. Pakosta also proposes increasing the penalty set in a relevant provision from one year to three years in prison.

The Justice Ministry cited hybrid attacks originating from neighbouring countries and a sharp rise in the number of migrants and smugglers in Estonia. Pakosta said criminal networks often help migrants cross the border illegally in exchange for payment.

Estonia recorded 11 such crimes last year and 26 in the first eight months of this year. According to the Police and Border Guard Board, 27 people staying in Estonia illegally were caught during internal Schengen travel in 2025, compared with 181 in the first eight months of this year.

Pakosta said current penalties were too lenient and did not account for repeat offences or the trafficking of several migrants at once. She argued that the existing penalties, introduced in 2015, were no longer sufficiently deterrent. The proposal would classify the repeated illegal transportation of foreign nationals, or transporting several people, as a first-degree crime.

Pakosta also wants the bill to introduce prison sentences of one to eight years for damaging an object important to national defence. The proposal covers buildings, structures, vehicles, equipment and other property used for critical tasks by the Defence Forces, the Defence League, security and rescue agencies, the Police and Border Guard Board, or defence industry companies. She cited an August fire in Tallinn at a building used by defence company Milrem Robotics.