Bavarian Border Police: Significant increase in illegal migration

Created: 02/21/2022 05:41

Bavaria's Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann presented the balance sheet of the Bavarian border police for 2021 in Passau.

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District – In 2021, the Bavarian border police found significantly more cases of smuggling and illegal migration.

Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann takes stock.

Bavaria's Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann recently took stock of the 2021 deployment year of the Bavarian border police - there is also an office in Kreuth.

The bottom line: cases of people smuggling, unauthorized entry, hits by a manhunt and other criminal offenses have increased significantly.

The border police are strengthened.

The Bavarian border police recorded significantly more arrests in 2021 than in 2020. This is the result of the annual balance sheet that Bavaria's Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann recently published in Passau.

"Illegal migration in particular has increased significantly in 2021," he said.

Criticism of Home Secretary Nancy Faeser

The Bavarian border police found 1,781 unauthorized entries - an increase of 37 percent compared to the previous year - as well as 181 cases of smuggling - an increase of 47 percent.

According to Herrmann, this development is also reflected in asylum applications.

After the number of initial applications had fallen continuously for four years since 2017, it rose by around 63 percent across Bavaria to around 20,000 in 2021.

The CSU minister is therefore concerned that the new Federal Minister of the Interior, Nancy Faeser, has announced that she intends to form a coalition of willing member states.

"This will undoubtedly also significantly increase the overall migration pressure towards Europe," he explained.

"This could become a stimulus package for inhuman smugglers."

cooperation with the Federal Police

However, Herrmann is satisfied with the work of the Bavarian border police under the new director Annette Lauer: “The successes in combating illegal migration and cross-border crime are remarkable.

The Bavarian border police thus ensure a significant increase in security.

Many thanks also to the Federal Police for the excellent cooperation.”

The Minister of the Interior is certain that the Bavarian border police will be equipped with state-of-the-art equipment and significantly increased staff in the coming years.

Since its foundation, the Free State has already increased the number of border police officers by 276 to 756.

By 2025 there should be over 1,000 jobs.

In addition, the Bavarian border police have been using state-of-the-art multicopters, i.e. drones, equipped with thermal imaging cameras since November 2021.

Around 50,000 manhunt hits

According to Herrmann, proof of the excellent work of the border police is also the around 50,000 hits in the context of the manhunt on the eastern and southern borders since July 2018, for example because an arrest warrant was available or a vehicle was being searched for theft.

"Our border investigators arrest several thousand criminals every year," Herrmann explained.

The number of cases processed annually increased to 53,131 in 2021 – an increase of 24 percent.

During the manhunt and temporary border controls at the state border, the Bavarian border police officers found 641 cases of weapons and explosives offenses - an increase of 11 percent.

In the area of ​​document offenses there were 1,280 - an increase of 33 percent, which includes, for example, forged passports or misused ID cards.

In the field of drug-related crime, there were 2,646 cases - an increase of 6 percent.

Markus Söder reactivates border police

As the Minister of the Interior made clear, the work of the border police in 2021 was also heavily influenced by the corona pandemic.

The border police officers carried out more than 1.2 million controls of the corona-specific registration and proof obligations - directly at the national border, at the veil search and at airports.

Around 26,700 violations of the Corona entry regulations had to be identified.

"Our Bavarian border police are also making an important contribution to containing the corona pandemic," explained the minister.

The Bavarian border police in its current form has existed since 2018, when it was reactivated by Prime Minister Markus Söder.

A predecessor already existed from 1946 to 1998.