Status: 26/09/2023, 14:06 p.m.
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Nancy Faeser (SPD), Minister of the Interior, at an appointment. © Hannes P. Albert/dpa
The question of how the Federal Minister of the Interior should react to the increased number of asylum seekers is hotly debated. According to the Federal Police, Syrians have now been arrested in a raid. They are said to have helped compatriots to come to Germany in exchange for money.
Berlin/Frankfurt am Main - In order to better combat smugglers, Federal Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser is also preparing additional controls at the borders with Poland and the Czech Republic. "First of all, we are helping to prepare stationary border controls. It's about additional controls," said the SPD politician. "And we'll have to see what that brings," Faeser added. The minister added that it was important for her "that we are available with personnel in the area at the border", because otherwise this would lead to displacement and people would then cross the border in other places.
"If we catch smugglers, it will bring a lot, because at the moment we have the feeling that one in four or five comes into the country via smugglers." Ultimately, however, an effective solution is only possible at the European level, "namely border control at the external border, not via internal borders," the minister stressed.
Since autumn 2015, there have been temporary stationary border controls in Bavaria on the border with Austria. They are registered with the EU Commission by the Federal Ministry of the Interior and extended in each case. The inspections must be requested in Brussels with a lead time of about one month. This has not yet happened for the border with the Czech Republic and Poland.
During a raid in five federal states, the federal police discovered several suspected Syrians early Tuesday morning. Five arrest warrants had been executed – against two women and a man in Stade, as well as a woman and a man in Gladbeck, said a spokesman for the Federal Police of the German Press Agency. "All five are also Syrians," he added. The detainees are themselves asylum seekers and have family ties. In total, the alleged gang is accused of smuggling in more than 100 Syrians over time.
According to the investigations, the suspected smugglers paid 3000,7000 to <>,<> euros each for their illegal entry into Germany, the spokesman said. In addition to gang and commercial smuggling of foreigners, the accused are also accused of money laundering, among other things: they had bought gold jewelry with their illegal earnings, for example.
The co-chair of the Green parliamentary group, Britta Haßelmann, said that smuggling must be remedied. However, she was sceptical about the effectiveness of border controls. If there were stationary controls at the borders everywhere, some of the forces deployed there would be missing elsewhere, for example at train stations. In addition, the everyday life of people in the border area, such as commuters, is made much more difficult.
Commenting on criticism from Italy of the federal government's involvement in the financing of civilian sea rescue operations, Hasselmann said it was "a disaster" that there was no European state sea rescue mission.
Rome considers it interference in internal Italian affairs that the German government wants to promote aid organizations that take care of migrants not only in the Mediterranean, but also on Italian soil. The Foreign Office had pointed out on Friday that a decision of the Bundestag would be implemented. The first money - between 400,000 and 800,000 euros each - is to be paid out "shortly", to a project for supply on land and a project for rescue at sea. Dpa
