Germany Expands Border Controls To Curb Irregular Migration And Extremism Risks
5 weeks ago
German police on Tuesday conducted random checks at a border crossing with Austria, after the government in Berlin announced plans to introduce tighter control at all of its land borders.
The government of Chancellor Olaf Scholz said the new restrictions are aimed at tackling irregular migration and to protect the public from threats such as Islamic extremism.
It's part of a bid by Scholz to undercut the momentum of opposition parties who are riding a wave of anti-immigrant sentiment as German voters say they are increasingly worried about what they see as stretched public services, integration, and security.
Recent deadly knife attacks in which the suspects were asylum seekers have stoked concerns over immigration.
The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for a knife attack in the western city of Solingen that killed three people in August.
The Alternative for Germany or AfD earlier this month became the first far-right party since the Second World War to win a German state election after campaigning heavily on the issue of migration.
The controls could test European unity if they lead to German authorities requesting other countries to take back substantial numbers of asylum seekers and migrants.
And they are raising fears that some of the most vulnerable in Europe could pay the price of changing political views.
Wiebke Judith is with the German pro-immigration advocacy organization Pro Asyl. She warned of what she called "a perfidious game of ping-pong" as asylum-seekers are shunted back and forth between nations within the European Union.
Under EU rules, countries in the Schengen area, which encompasses all of the bloc except Cyprus and Ireland, are only allowed to introduce border checks as a last resort to avert threats to internal security or public policy.
Germany shares its more than 2,300 mile-long land border with Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, France, Switzerland, Austria, the Czech Republic and Poland.
Austria's Interior Minister a newspaper on Monday that his country would not take in any migrants turned away by Germany at the border.
The government of Chancellor Olaf Scholz said the new restrictions are aimed at tackling irregular migration and to protect the public from threats such as Islamic extremism.
It's part of a bid by Scholz to undercut the momentum of opposition parties who are riding a wave of anti-immigrant sentiment as German voters say they are increasingly worried about what they see as stretched public services, integration, and security.
Recent deadly knife attacks in which the suspects were asylum seekers have stoked concerns over immigration.
The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for a knife attack in the western city of Solingen that killed three people in August.
The Alternative for Germany or AfD earlier this month became the first far-right party since the Second World War to win a German state election after campaigning heavily on the issue of migration.
The controls could test European unity if they lead to German authorities requesting other countries to take back substantial numbers of asylum seekers and migrants.
And they are raising fears that some of the most vulnerable in Europe could pay the price of changing political views.
Wiebke Judith is with the German pro-immigration advocacy organization Pro Asyl. She warned of what she called "a perfidious game of ping-pong" as asylum-seekers are shunted back and forth between nations within the European Union.
Under EU rules, countries in the Schengen area, which encompasses all of the bloc except Cyprus and Ireland, are only allowed to introduce border checks as a last resort to avert threats to internal security or public policy.
Germany shares its more than 2,300 mile-long land border with Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, France, Switzerland, Austria, the Czech Republic and Poland.
Austria's Interior Minister a newspaper on Monday that his country would not take in any migrants turned away by Germany at the border.
