Germany Intensifies Efforts To Stop People Smuggling And Illegal Migration

In an effort to prevent more migrants from entering the country, Germany will increase police patrols along “smuggling routes” on the border with Poland and the Czech Republic.

The announcement came a day after police raids in the country found dozens of Syrian citizens inside apartments searched in connection with a smuggling ring.

Interior Minister Nancy Faeser didn’t elaborate on the move but stressed no fixed border checks would be installed as Germany has been doing along the border with Austria since 2015.

New Border Controls To Supplement Existing Patrols

Faeser highlighted the urgent need to “stop the cruel business of smugglers who put human lives at risk,” adding the new measures would begin immediately.

The new border controls would supplement the mobile police patrols already checking people trying to enter Germany on foot or cars crossing the border.

Border controls are to be intensified in close cooperation with Poland and the Czech Republic, with additional customs officers set to support the implementation of new measures.

German Cities Sounding Alarm Over Rising Arrivals

“To ensure that this succeeds quickly, I have decided that customs will support this urgent task with 500 staff,” German Finance Minister Christian Lindner wrote later on Wednesday on X.

The announcement is meant to tackle smuggling and illegal migration as scores of migrants from Afghanistan, Syria and elsewhere have been trying to get to Germany to apply for asylum.

Cities and communities across the country, meanwhile, have been sounding the alarm over the rising number of arrivals, raising concerns over depleting options for accommodation.

EU’s Sensitive System Of Open Borders In Focus

As focus shifts to the EU’s fragile system of open borders, Faeser said the new measures would tackle smugglers, who facilitated the passage of a quarter of the migrants entering Germany.

This year, the period from January to August saw more than 220,000 people applying for asylum in Germany. In all of 2022, about 240,000 people sought asylum.

While the numbers are still a far cry from 2015-16, when over a million people applied for asylum, Germany has also taken in scores of Ukrainian refugees in addition to migrants.