Migration has become a top policy priority of the European Union (EU) in the wake of the recent migrant crisis. Given the significant ramifications of non-European immigration for its member states, the EU has implemented a variety of policies to minimize popular backlashes within the borders of its wealthiest member states. In this article, we show that the EU offers fiscal transfers to its migrant-transit member states in exchange for holding non-EU migrants in the European periphery. The EU has become a convenient venue through which the EU's major players can coordinate their efforts and conceal the extent to which they use voter taxes in addressing migration-related issues. Using unique data on illegal border crossings into the EU from 2009 to 2017, we find robust empirical support for the argument that the EU channels more funds to the member states whose territories have become part of the major migrant-transit routes.