By Michael Sauerbier
Now they are coming back in their thousands. Warlord Putin is sending more and more refugees to Germany via Belarus. Accommodation, schools and daycare centers are full. But Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (52, SPD) rejects stationary border controls.
German-Polish border police headquarters in Swiecko, Tuesday afternoon. The minister traveled to the Oderbrücke for the on-site visit. Faeser consulted with her colleagues from Warsaw, Brandenburg and Saxony for almost two hours. The two border states have only one goal: fewer illegal entries.
“I made it clear to Mrs. Faeser with figures that the situation is dramatic,” said Potsdam’s Secretary of State for the Interior, Markus Grünewald (59, CDU). “In February we still had 200 people who entered the country illegally, in March 500, in April almost 1000, and just as many in May. We expect 10,000 this year.”
Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD, right) and her Warsaw colleague Bartosz Grodecki (2nd from right) met on Tuesday in the joint border police center in Swiecko Photo: Patrick Pleul/dpa
Dramatic consequence: “The initial admissions are full,” warns the State Secretary, “the districts and cities can no longer accommodate the refugees.” is increasing.”
Both of Faeser demanded stationary border controls with Poland on Tuesday – as has been the case between Bavaria and Austria since 2017. Schuster: “We want random samples to be taken out of those who are suspected of being smugglers or who are suspected of entering the country illegally. No full control like Corona.”
German (right) and Polish officers (left) have been working together in the Swiecko police center on the A12 motorway since 2007 – but illegal entries are again increasing sharply Photo: Patrick Pleul/dpa
But Faeser refused. Her reasoning: “At the border with the Czech Republic, we managed to significantly reduce the very high migration numbers even without stationary border controls. With more forces on site and stronger manhunts. We’re doing that here now too. I’m talking about several hundreds.”
Fixed border controls, Faeser warned, “would massively disrupt the close relations between Germany and Poland in everyday life”. Poland’s Deputy Interior Minister Bartosz Grodecki (42) sees it the same way, saying: “The most important thing is that we strengthen the measures at the EU’s external borders.”
“I don’t share the hope,” countered Schuster. Poland’s new fence on the Belarus border hasn’t stopped the influx. Saxony’s Minister of the Interior: “Flag search means: If you find someone in the hinterland, entry is complete. I can no longer reject him. That only works at the border crossing.”
Brandenburg and Saxony are demanding fixed border controls against illegal entries – but without traffic jams like in Corona times Photo: Robert Michael/dpa
At the Bavarian border, the federal police turned away 15,000 illegal immigrants. Schuster: “That shows how effective these controls are – and that it works without gigantic traffic jams.” One exception, says Faeser, “I’m sure that with more staff we will be able to cope with the new migration pressure”.
The June figures will show who is right.