BERLIN — Germany will extend its temporary border controls beyond a mid-September deadline and intensify deportations of rejected asylum seekers with criminal records, Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt announced Thursday, reported by AFP.
Speaking on a podcast with Table.Today, Dobrindt said the crackdown is aimed at curbing irregular migration and follows months of political pressure from surging support for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), which gained a record 20 percent in the February election. A series of violent incidents involving asylum seekers further stoked public anxiety during the campaign.
“We will continue to maintain the border controls,” Dobrindt confirmed, noting the ongoing agreement with European partners. “This is a necessary measure until the EU’s external border protection system is fully functional.”
The controls, initially introduced under former Chancellor Olaf Scholz, were extended earlier this year and are now being reinforced under conservative Chancellor Friedrich Merz. Daily federal police deployments at Germany’s borders have increased from 11,000 to 14,000 officers.
Between May 8 and July 31, German border police turned back 9,254 people—most from Afghanistan, Algeria, Eritrea, and Somalia. The majority of rejections occurred at the French border, followed by Poland, Switzerland, and Austria.
Germany has already deported two groups of convicted migrants to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, most recently returning 81 people in July. Dobrindt emphasized these removals “cannot remain a one-off measure” and revealed plans are underway to resume deportation flights to war-torn Syria as well.
Amnesty International sharply criticized the deportations, calling conditions in Afghanistan “catastrophic,” with widespread torture, extrajudicial killings, and disappearances.
Despite human rights concerns, the Merz government remains committed to tightening immigration enforcement amid growing domestic and political pressures.
