EU spent 11.3bn on repatriations in 15 years

(ANSA) - Brussels, June 18 - European Union member states and non-Schengen countries Liechtenstein, Iceland, Norway, and Switzerland have collectively spent 11.3 billion euros on repatriating migrants in 15 years, according to a study published by The Migrants Files on Thursday.
    This compares to an estimated 16 billion euros pocketed by human traffickers over the same period, the study added.
    External border control activities carried out under the EU agency Frontex have cost about one billion euros since its inception in 2004, Migrants Files said. The Migrants Files is a project by a European consortium of journalists that aims at precisely assessing the number of men, women and children that died as a result of EU member States migration policies.