Special police criticize German border controls

Berlin is celebrating the controls as a success, but the police union is skeptical about taking Austria to court over border protection.

Since last week, Germany has been controlling all its borders to curb illegal immigration. The measure, which has also been promoted by individual political parties in Austria as a panacea against increased immigration, is now being criticized not only by opponents of restrictive immigration policy. The German government is now also facing criticism from within its own police force.

According to the German Police Association (GdP), border controls have so far done little to curb irregular migration. “It remains to be seen that the arrests of unauthorized persons and smugglers are relatively low,” GDP party chairman Andreas Rosskopf told the German news network. There is also no evidence that these measures have a deterrent effect. “The referral of asylum seekers to the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees in the interior of the country remains high,” Rosskopf said.