Migration – Munich – More veil manhunt also because of danger from Russia – Bavaria
Munich (dpa) – Bavaria’s Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann (CSU) justifies the increased search for illegally entering migrants on the borders with Austria and the Czech Republic with a threat from Russia. The question also arises to what extent people are being smuggled in by the Russian and Belarusian side – “perhaps with a completely different background,” Herrmann said on Deutschlandfunk on Friday. “We need strict controls there too. We have to know who is coming to our country and clarify the identity of these people.”
Herrmann demanded: “In view of the difficult activities that are going on with Russian politics, we cannot fulfill the fact that we simply allow a larger number of people with unclear identities to enter the European Union like this, it is actually necessary that already on the external borders of the EU would be controlled even more consistently.” This is “not the case” in some European countries. It is not without reason that the Czech Republic and Austria have now also stepped up their border controls with Slovakia.
From Herrmann’s point of view, high social benefits in Germany create “additional travel” for refugees to come to Germany.
Herrmann had announced on Thursday that the Bavarian border police should increase controls in the border regions with the Czech Republic and Austria in the coming weeks. According to him, the officials registered 1,781 unauthorized entries in 2021. That is an increase of 37 percent compared to the previous year. This trend is continuing, the interior minister said. From January to the end of August 2022, the Bavarian border police found 1,650 cases within a 30-kilometer area on the borders with the Czech Republic and Austria.
Around 800 police officers currently work for the border police. By 2025 there should be more than 1000 jobs.
© dpa-infocom, dpa:221007-99-39666/2