Netherlands deploy 300 more to tighten inland borders

The Netherlands is deploying between 250 and 300 extra people to help tighten security at Europe's borders. These people will work in so-called Border Security Teams, which can be flexibly and quickly deployed to help with border security where they are necessary, State Secretary Klaas Dijkhoff of Security and Justice wrote to the Tweede Kamer, lower house of parliament, on Wednesday. The core of the teams will consist of officers from the marechaussee - a policing force which works as a branch of the military. The teams can quickly be deployed to help with border control at checkpoints, border surveillance between crossing points and mobile control at internal borders. In this way the teams will contribute to the fight against human trafficking, terrorism and other forms of transnational crime. Such a team is already working on the Greek island of Chios, where it is assisting the Greek authorities with identifying and registering asylum seekers. According to Dijkhoff, Europe's external borders are also our external borders and the EU Member States need to work together to cope with the migration crisis. The border control capacity will from this month be expanded incrementally and teams will be deployed in the near future.