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according to reports from reuters and deutsche presse-agentur, on september 9 local time, german interior and land minister nancy feser announced that temporary controls will be implemented on all german land borders from september 16, including passport checks on passengers from the schengen area. this measure is initially planned to last for 6 months.

fezer said the move is aimed at limiting illegal immigration and protecting the public from threats posed by islamic extremist terrorist organizations and cross-border criminal organizations. "we are strengthening domestic security through concrete actions and continue to take a tough stance on irregular immigration."

the german government also plans to allow authorities to turn away more migrants directly at the border, feser added, without elaborating on the controversial and legally risky move.

debate over germany's immigration and asylum policies has heated up in recent weeks after a knife attack in the western city of solingen last month sparked concerns about immigration in the country.

in recent years, the number of immigrants pouring into germany has surged, especially asylum seekers from the middle east. reuters pointed out that the expansion of border inspections is part of germany's measures to strengthen border control and further restrict illegal immigration.

regarding the latest move, german interior and land minister feser said that the german government has informed the european commission and neighboring countries of the plan.

germany's land border is 3,876 kilometers long and borders denmark, the netherlands, belgium, luxembourg, france, switzerland, austria, the czech republic and poland.

these are all schengen countries, which usually do not need border checks between each other. according to eu regulations, except for cyprus and ireland, schengen countries are only allowed to implement border checks when it is absolutely necessary to protect their national security and public policy from threats.

last year, in response to a surge in asylum applications, germany imposed land border controls with austria, the czech republic, poland and switzerland. although the move was officially defined as temporary, the german government extended the controls several times.

the german government said on september 9 this year that since october last year, more than 30,000 people have been denied entry at the german border under the above-mentioned control policy.

from september 16, this border control will be extended to all german land borders.

germany's "red-green light" coalition faces uncertain future, restricts immigration to attract voters in key states

reuters said that the ruling coalition led by german chancellor olaf scholz is trying to regain the initiative from the far-right parties and conservatives, whose support has risen recently due to voters' dissatisfaction with public services, immigration and security issues.

two eastern german states held local elections on september 1, local time. the far-right alternative for germany won a landslide victory in thuringia and ranked second in saxony, becoming the first far-right party to win a local election in germany since world war ii. the three parties in germany's ruling coalition - the social democratic party, the green party and the free democratic party - suffered a crushing defeat in thuringia.

reuters believes that the knife attack in solingen may have boosted the momentum of the anti-immigrant alternative for germany party at the last minute.

on the evening of august 23rd local time, a knife attack in solingen killed three people. the suspect was an asylum seeker from syria who entered the eu from bulgaria and came to germany at the end of 2022. the extremist organization "islamic state" has claimed that its members carried out the attack.

faced with public concerns, the german government is discussing ways to restrict immigration with the main opposition parties, the christian democratic union and the christian social union.

polls show immigration is also a top concern for voters in brandenburg, where an election is scheduled for two weeks. the spd, led by scholz and feser, is struggling to win votes in brandenburg, a state seen as a test of its strength ahead of next year's federal election.

immigration experts say resistance to immigration has been building in germany since it accepted more than a million people during the 2015-16 migrant crisis, most of them from war-torn countries such as syria.

reuters said that after the outbreak of the russia-ukraine conflict, this country with a population of 84 million was struggling to cope with the energy and economic crisis while automatically providing asylum to about 1 million ukrainians, pushing itself to a "critical point."

marcus engler, an immigration researcher at the german center for integration and migration research, said the government's intention appeared to be a symbolic statement to both germans and potential immigrants that "the latter are no longer needed here."

austrian interior minister gerhard kanna told germany's bild newspaper on september 9 that austria would not accept any immigrants rejected by germany, "there is no room for maneuver."

susan fratzke, a germany-based analyst at the migration policy institute, a u.s. think tank, said the controls may not immediately lead to a further increase in the number of people denied entry into germany, but could serve as a deterrent, causing more immigrants to return to other european countries.

reuters cited german government statistics as saying that the number of asylum applications received by the country had fallen by 21.7% in the first eight months of this year.

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