Germany: Irregular migration drops due to new border checks

The introduction of border checks at Germany's border with Poland, the Czech Republic and Switzerland last month has led to a significant drop in illegal migration, a German newspaper reported Saturday.

Welt am Sonntag newspaper looked at federal police data which showed that there were fewer than 300 unauthorized border entries per day since October 16.

That compares with around 700 per day in the 30-day period before the controls were introduced.

In the period before October 16th, a total of 18,492 illegal entries were registered at the borders of the three countries and to Austria, where controls have been in place since the 2015 migrant crisis.

In the 30 days after October 16th, the number fell to 11,029 — a 40% drop.

The Polish border saw a 56% drop in attempts to enter the country illegally — 2,795 compared to 6,411 earlier.

Controls 'exceeded' expectations

Interior Minister Nancy Faeser last month informed the European Commission, the EU's executive arm, that Germany was reintroducing controls at the three borders. The directive has been extended several times since then.

Rules allowing the reimposition of border checks are not built into the EU's Schengen borderless travel rules.

Saxony's Interior Minister Armin Schuster told the newspaper that the border controls "have exceeded our expectations, significantly so."

Welt am Sonntag said the police cited another factor behind the fall, namely the new border controls by Serbia at its border with Hungary.

The paper noted many of the illegal migrants taking this route into the EU had planned to eventually enter Germany.

Nearly 234,000 people applied for asylum in Germany for the first time from January to September, a rise of 73% from the same period last year.

Many German municipalities say they've reached their limits in terms of resources for accommodation, care and the integration of refugees, especially as the country is currently hosting more than a million refugees from Ukraine since Russia's invasion in February 2022.

mm/dj (EPD, Reuters)