Since Monday, checks have been in place at all German borders – one of the aims being to curb the number of migrants entering the country illegally. The checks are initially set to last for six months.
The new measures are controversial because in the Schengen area, which includes 25 of the 27 EU member states, controls at internal borders are only permitted in cases of particular threat. For example, there were controls during the European Football Championship.
Last but not least, we must take care of the smugglers’ networks.
Holger MuenchPresident of the Federal Criminal Police Office
The President of the Federal Criminal Police Office, Holger Münch, believes that the controls at Germany’s borders are effective in the fight against people smuggling. “The number of arrests has increased with the controls,” he told the editorial network Germany.
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“However, we must also take care of the smugglers’ networks. It is therefore a matter of conducting such investigations along the smuggling routes in international cooperation. This can be very successful and the Federal Police in particular are very active here.” Münch added: “We counted around 4,000 suspects last year. That is an increase of 25 percent compared to the previous year.”
According to the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (Bamf), 3,626 asylum applications were submitted in the first four days after the start of the expanded border controls last Monday. This was reported in advance by the “Welt am Sonntag” on Saturday. There were slightly more asylum applications than in the previous week (Monday to Thursday 3,581 nationwide) and the week before that (3,063).
These requests reflect more accurately than the actual asylum applications how many migrants are currently entering the country. They are submitted directly upon entry or shortly thereafter.
The newspaper also has access to internal statistics from the Federal Police on how often illegal entries were prevented at the newly controlled sections.
According to these internal statistics from the Federal Police Directorates, only 182 unauthorised entry attempts were detected by Thursday along the entire western border, i.e. in the sections with the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and France. Of these, 100 were directly prevented by a rejection.
We are already noticing that the known checkpoints are being bypassed.
Andreas RosskopfChairman of the GdP Federal Police Union
When asked, the responsible Federal Ministry of the Interior would neither confirm nor deny this, the newspaper said.
In an interview with the newspaper, the chairman of the GdP Federal Police Union, Andreas Roßkopf, welcomes the new controls, but he also sees significant weaknesses.
“We are already noticing that the known checkpoints are being bypassed. For example, the Flixbuses, which are often used by illegal immigrants, are moving from the motorways to neighbouring roads.” (lem)
