Germany: 14,000 illegal crossings by bus and train
Alexander Pearson
January 28, 2019
Germany's federal police reportedly caught thousands of migrants trying to enter the country illegally on buses or trains in 2018. Most of the migrants entered the country from neighboring Austria.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/A. Dedert
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German federal police caught more than 14,000 people entering the country illegally on buses and trains in 2018, regional newspaper Rheinische Post reported on Monday.
An internal federal police document seen by the newspaper showed just under 8,000 migrants entered Germany on buses and slightly more than 6,000 on trains.
Most of the migrants were from Afghanistan, Nigeria, Iraq, Syria and Turkey.
The southern German state of Bavaria has opened the first controversial center to process migrants arriving through the Austrian border. The facilities are part of a plan to reduce the number of asylum seekers.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/S. Puchner
First migrant center opens in Bavaria
The centers are part of the "migration master plan" of Interior Minister Horst Seehofer. The concept behind the centers is that asylum seekers will be kept there until their right to stay is determined.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/S. Puchner
Controlled immigration
Bavaria will set up a total of seven "Anker" centers, each holding between 1,000 and 1,500 refugees. The name derives from the German words Ankunft, Entscheidung, Rückführung (arrival, decision, return). The aim is to create a sort "one-stop" center with all the relevant government agencies required to complete the entire asylum process represented on site.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/S. Puchner
Critics warn of ghettoization
Church groups, refugee advocates and opposition parties have all voiced their concern, describing the centers as deportation camps and warning of the ghettoization of migrant communities. The NGO Save the Children said the centers were "no place for children," as they facilitated "tension and aggression."
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/S. Puchner
Compromise solution
The centers are the result of a last-minute political deal between Chancellor Angela Merkel and Interior Minister Horst Seehofer. His initial plan to turn migrants away at the border created a political crisis that could have toppled the coalition government of Merkel's Christian Democrats, their Bavarian sister party the CSU and the Social Democrats.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/K. Nietfeld
Little enthusiasm for centers in Germany
The decision to create the centers was taken at federal government level, but responsibility lies with Germany's individual states. Bavaria — where Seehofer's conservative CSU faces a crucial state election in October — has taken the initiative. But others have delayed the establishment of the migrant transfer centers or refused to take part in the policy.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/S. Puchner
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Some 6,000 entered on buses and trains from Austria, the border with the highest number of illegal crossings. The next highest number of illegal crossings was on the border with France and Switzerland.
Federal police only refused entry to illegal migrants who crossed the Austrian-German border.
European court weighs in
Passport checks on buses are set to become more difficult after the European Court of Justice ruled that Germany's membership of the Schengen area prohibits bus companies from checking passenger identity papers.
A German and a Spanish bus company had brought action against a German regulation requiring them to check passengers' passports and residence permits before crossing the border.
The ruling still needs to be reviewed by Germany's Federal Administrative Court.
