The number of newly arrived refugees in Germany fell significantly again in August, down 60 percent compared to the same month last year. According to figures released Tuesday by the Federal Ministry of the Interior, only 7,803 people applied for asylum in Germany in August, compared to 18,427 in August of the previous year.
Federal Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt (CSU) hailed the decline as a success of his stricter migration policies. “Our asylum turnaround is working, our measures are successful,” Dobrindt told Bild, which first reported the figures. Politically, the next step would be to “strengthen the common European asylum system in order to further reduce migration pressure on Europe,” he added.
The downward trend has become increasingly clear in recent months. In July, the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (Bamf) recorded 8,293 first-time asylum applications, compared to 18,503 in the same month last year. During the first seven months of this year, a total of 86,916 asylum applications were filed, including 70,011 first-time and 16,905 repeat applications. In the same period last year, the total was 153,361.
Reducing the number of asylum seekers has been a declared goal of Germany’s ruling coalition. Border checks were introduced to deter refugees. On May 7, Interior Minister Dobrindt ordered stepped-up controls and turnbacks at all nine of Germany’s land borders with neighboring states, excluding so-called vulnerable groups such as children and pregnant women. Between May 8 and the end of July, the federal police recorded 9,506 turnbacks at the borders.
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