German government officials have covered up crimes committed by the large number of refugees from the Middle East flooding the country, with the apparent motive of easing the fears of Germans concerned about the impact of this mass migration. This assertion was made by Bild, Germany’s largest-circulation newspaper, and cited in an article in Britain’s Daily Mail on December 30.
The Bild reporter also charged that drug dealers were recruiting refugees as drug couriers almost as soon as they registered as asylum seekers, paying the migrants only a few euros to carry drugs across Germany.
The report stated that recent migrants were also being used to sell stolen goods such as mobile phones, which in many cases were sold to other refugees.
As for why officials are not publicizing the problem, the Bild reporter replied that all the officials responsible for apprehending aliens who commit such crimes have been ordered not to talk about it, stating that alien crime was an extremely sensitive subject and officials have been forbidden refer to such crimes in an “offensive manner.”
The Daily Mail reported that Germany registered over one million migrants in 2015, five times the total in 2014.
The report also referenced an article in the German daily newspaper Saechsische Zeitung, which stated that German authorities expect about 125,000 asylum seekers to have registered on Germany’s EASY system in December, down from 206,000 in November. The newspaper cited unpublished government figures.
An unnamed spokeswoman for the Interior Ministry interviewed by Saechsische Zeitung declined to confirm the numbers, which will be available in early January, but Interior Minister Thomas de Mazière said in a statement that the numbers were decreasing slightly.
Though, as we noted in a September 15 article, Germany had so far taken in a disproportionately large share of refugees fleeing to Europe from the turmoil in Syria, Iraq, Libya, and Afghanistan, it had suddenly made a change in its immigration policy and decided to restrict the flow of migrants across its borders.
De Mazière announced the change in policy on September 13, in a statement quoted by Reuters:
At this moment Germany is temporarily introducing border controls again along [the EU’s] internal borders. The focus will be on the border to Austria at first.
The aim of these measures is to limit the current inflows to Germany and to return to orderly procedures when people enter the country.
De Mazière explained that the new restrictions were partly necessary for security reasons and added: “This step has become necessary. The great readiness to help that Germany has shown in recent weeks … must not be overstretched.”
The new policy represented a suspension of the Schengen Agreement, which was originally signed in 1985 by five members of what was then called of the European Economic Community — a predecessor to the EU. The Schengen area now includes 26 European Union countries, extending from Scandinavia to the Iberian peninsula, and from Iceland to Greece. A key provision of Schengen area rules is eliminating internal border controls with the other Schengen members, while strengthening external border controls with non-member states. The Daily Mail reported on September 13 that officials were seen on that evening carrying out the first passport checks at the German-Austrian border.
De Mazière explained that the Schengen area rules allow the reinstatement of border restrictions in cases of crisis and national security.
Photo of migrants walking along a road after crossing the border into Germany: AP Images
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