Interior Minister Dobrindt desires to stay to controversial border controls | EUROtoday

As of: May 3, 2026 • 9:13 p.m

The black-red coalition has been in workplace for one yr. Your Interior Minister Dobrindt boasts of getting carried out a “migration turnaround”. He is sticking to frame controls – even when they don’t seem to be solely legally controversial.

A considerably more durable migration coverage – that was one of many central marketing campaign guarantees of the CDU and CSU earlier than the federal election. The Union has now been governing with the SPD for a yr, which largely leaves the difficulty to its coalition associate.

Federal Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt is liable for implementing what he calls the “migration turnaround” within the authorities. On the very first day of his time period in workplace, the CSU politician introduced that controls in any respect German borders – which his predecessor Nancy Faeser from the SPD had already launched in the summertime of 2024 – could be tightened. When requested, the Federal Ministry of the Interior didn’t reply what this really meant final yr, or what number of extra hours the federal law enforcement officials spent on checks than earlier than.

According to Wulf Winterhoff, press spokesman for the Bad Bramstedt Federal Police Directorate, which is liable for controlling the border with Denmark, the minister’s determination “alone had no influence on the deployment of forces on the German-Danish border.” Dem ARD capital studio he says, that “isn’t necessary.”

variety of Rejections stays the identical

However, what Dobrindt really modified was that the federal police are actually additionally turning away asylum seekers on the border. From the time he took workplace till the tip of April 2026, that was round 1,340 folks. This is barely legally permissible in a state of affairs of extreme calls for. There had been and are doubts about this – which the Berlin Administrative Court confirmed final summer season. Dobrindt brushed this off as a case-by-case determination and let the federal police proceed.

Even beneath Dobrindt’s predecessor Faeser, individuals who had no proper to enter the nation had been already turned again on the border – however provided that they didn’t apply for asylum. Most rejections occurred throughout this era between spring and autumn 2024 – first on the Polish, then on the Czech border. Overall, the variety of rejections hardly modified beneath Dobrindt – they averaged between 2,000 and 3,000 per thirty days.

Effect of the border controls questionable

Anyone who has been rejected could strive once more – not all the time efficiently. According to the Federal Police, round 1,500 folks had been turned again once more between May and December 2025. In 2026, this utilized to round 300 folks by the tip of March.

The advantages of the controls can hardly be scientifically confirmed, says migration scientist Victoria Rietig from the German Council on Foreign Relations in an interview with ARD capital studio. “When the numbers go up, you say we’re clearing up the dark field. When the numbers go down, you say people are deterred and when the numbers stay the same, you say we’re stabilizing the situation.” Every improvement may be taken as proof of alleged effectiveness. “Scientifically, of course, this is complete nonsense, but politically it’s brilliant.”

Legal doubts

At the tip of April, the Koblenz Administrative Court declared a examine on the border with Luxembourg to be illegal. The federal authorities has not adequately justified the truth that a excessive stage of irregular migration has overwhelmed the authorities. The judgment shouldn’t be last, however it’s a part of different selections on earlier controls on the border with Austria. The Interior Ministry has introduced an attraction and can be insisting on this: one other remoted case.

From the angle of the Federal Police Commissioner, Uli Grötsch, the federal authorities ought to deal with the selections otherwise. He “urgently urges us to follow these court decisions and talk about how something like this can be done legally.” “This also has to do with the population’s acceptance of the controls,” says the SPD politician ARD capital studio.

Dobrindt desires to begin border controls maintain onto

In the ARD broadcast report from Berlin However, Interior Minister Dobrindt makes it clear that border controls will proceed. Only when the migration system in Europe is practical can we “evolve out of border controls again”. Today, nevertheless, it might nonetheless be “too early to say when that point will come.”

Border controls have to be registered with the EU each six months. The subsequent extension could be in September. The authorities should inform the EU Commission why border controls, opposite to the final Schengen guidelines, are nonetheless essential and why public order and safety would in any other case be in danger.

This is prone to change into more and more troublesome after Chancellor Friedrich Merz declared final week with regard to migration coverage: “The numbers have fallen so clearly and so significantly that one can say that we have now solved large parts of the problem.” In reality, the variety of asylum seekers has fallen. From 350,000 in 2023, to 250,000 in 2024 and 170,000 final yr.

Migration researcher: “impressive PR performance”

But what of this could the black-red coalition actually take credit score for? “Some migration policies have of course had a direct effect,” says migration researcher Rietig. “We have restricted family reunification. We have paused admissions of refugees. This has resulted in fewer people coming to Germany.”

But that does not clarify the numerous decline in numbers. Rather, exterior elements are additionally essential – akin to the tip of the civil conflict in Syria a yr and a half in the past. The numbers had already fallen by the tip of the visitors mild coalition. Rietig says that the federal government beneath Chancellor Merz is succeeding in promoting this as its “migration turnaround”. “an impressive PR achievement”.

Deportations to Syria and Afghanistan

However, there was little change within the variety of deportations. According to figures requested by the Left, 4,807 folks had been deported within the first quarter of 2026. In the identical interval in 2025, beneath Olaf Scholz’s visitors mild authorities, there have been 6,151.

However, Interior Minister Dobrindt credit himself with having succeeded in deporting criminals to Syria for the primary time. After there had already been a deportation flight to Afghanistan at visitors mild occasions, in August 2024, Dobrindt concluded an settlement with the Taliban that permits common deportations. A complete of 138 males had been deported to the nation prior to now twelve months. In return, the Taliban had been allowed to ship two diplomats to Germany. At the identical time, the Interior Minister has revoked a whole bunch of acceptance guarantees for these searching for safety from the nation.