Germany prepares a shift in immigration policy in the face of the dramatic increase in immigrants and asylum seekers in the country. The federal states affected by this growing flow of people seeking help claim to be overwhelmed and have asked Chancellor Olaf Scholz to intervene with additional border control measures. The opposition calls for a national pact on migration that also reinforces deportations and limits the reception of refugees to 200,000 per year.
The debate is recurring, but on this occasion the statistics are forcing a consensus between the different political forces. In 2022, a total of about 2,666,000 entries were registered across German borders and between January and August of this year, the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) has counted 220,116 asylum requests, which represents an increase of 77.2% compared to the same period last year. In addition, due to the Russian war in Ukraine, more than a million people have so far sought protection in Germany. Ukrainians enter the statistics because they have immediate protection.
“Germany is committed to the right of asylum, but those who come and cannot invoke protection reasons or have committed crimes must be repatriated,” Scholz ended up accepting in the face of protests from Countries who have to provide aid and increasing pressure from the conservatives of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the Bavarian Christian Democratic Union (CSU).
One of them, the Minister President of Saxony-Anhalt, Reiner Haseloff, has warned of the serious problems that the country faces if uncontrolled immigration continues: “People who really have the right to asylum and need help can no longer be helped effectively.”
Brandenburg Interior Minister Michael Stübgen (CDU) has also called on Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser to quickly introduce fixed border controls, especially on the borders with Czechia and Poland, the great gateway to Germany. “Minister Faeser has already announced many things, but she has done nothing. Unscrupulous smuggling gangs must be put to an end,” she claimed.