Under a proposed law, Germany's Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) would be allowed to examine refugees' mobiles to establish their identity. The bill aims to prevent refugees from giving false identities.
Image: picture alliance/dpa/K. Nietfeld
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According to information published by three German media outlets on Sunday, new draft legislation could see German authorities circumventing the consent of refugees and checking their cellphones in order to establish their identity.
Regional German broadcasters WDR and NDR, and the Munich-based daily "Süddeutsche Zeitung" reported that the proposed law seeks to "improve the enforcement of the obligation to leave the country."
Germany's Interior Ministry has declined to disclose any further details until a final decision has be made on what should be included in the bill - or even if it will be submitted to parliament.
Bypassing permission
In principle, access to mobile phones and other data carriers has been permissible since an amendment of the 2015 residence law. However, the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) currently needs the consent of asylum seekers, without which authorities are only able to see the contents of a phone with a court order - which is only granted if there is a suspicion of a criminal offense.
Taking figures from 2016, some 50 percent to 60 percent of asylum-seekers applying for refuge in Germany would have been affected had the bill been in effect.
Benefit faud
The proposed law is just the latest in a string of several proposals to come out of Berlin that aim to prevent refugees from giving different or false identifications to authorities.
In some case, asylum-seekers lie about their identity out of fear of imminent deportation. Others, however, had lied in order to carry out benefit fraud.
Earlier this month, a 25-year-old asylum-seeker in Hannover was handed a 21-month suspended sentence including 200 hours of community service for fraud, after admitting to having registered in several cities across Germany under seven different names in order to obtain social benefits.
Germany recorded a sharp decline in the number of asylum-seekers entering the country in 2016, but requests for political asylum increased by over 56 percent as compared to 2015.
Image: dapd
First-time applications in 2016
A total of 722,370 first-time applicants filed requests for political asylum in Germany in 2016, according to the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF). The number reflects a roughly 65 percent increase compared to the previous year, when the total number of new applications stood at 441,899.
Image: picture-alliance/arifoto UG/M. Reichel
Follow-up requests 33.3 percent lower
The number of follow-up applications, however, recorded a decline of 33.3 percent. In 2015, 34,750 second-chance asylum requests were filed with BAMF, whereas in 2016 the number fell to 23,175.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/F. von Erichsen
Total asylum requests 56 percent higher
Combined, the number of first-time and follow-up applications for 2016 stood at 745,545. In 2015, this number stood at 476,649. So, BAMF recorded a 56.4 percent net increase in the total number of asylum requests in 2016 compared with 2015.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/M. Hadem
Applications from Syrians, Afghans, Iraqis
The highest number of requests in 2016 were filed by Syrian nationals. According to BAMF’s report, people from the war-torn Middle Eastern state submitted 266,250 of the new applications (36.9 percent). Afghan nationals came in second, with 127,012 (17.6 percent), followed by Iraqis, who filed 96,116 asylum requests (13.3 percent) last year.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/E. Gurel
Other prominent countries of origin
People from Iran filed 26,426 applications (3.7 percent). Eritreans submitted 18,854 applications (2.6 percent). Albanians totaled 14,853 (2.1 percent), 14,484 people from Pakistan requested asylum (2 percent), and Nigerians submitted 12,709 applications (1.8 percent).
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/W. Kumm
Young males make up majority of applicants
Nearly three-quarters of the applications filed in 2016 came from people younger than 30 years old. People aged between 18 and 25 filed 196,853 asylum requests, or about 23.5 percent of the overall total, making them the largest age group. The number of applications for children under the age of 4 stood at 78,192 (10.8 percent).
Image: Reuters/Kai Pfaffenbach
Almost 700,000 decisions reached in 2016
German authorities accepted 433,920 people of the 695,733 applications they decided on in 2016. The overall protection rate for all countries of origin amounted to 62.4 percent.
Image: Reuters/S. Loos
Crimes against refugee centers still high
Ranging from vandalism to arson, more than 900 attacks on refugee centers were recorded in Germany in 2016. The Federal Criminal Police Office reported that, out of the 921 recorded offenses, 857 were suspected to have had far-right motives. In 2015, 1,031 such offenses were recorded, 923 of which were suspected of having a far-right background.
