Germany has started rejecting asylum seekers at its borders just days after Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s government introduced tighter immigration controls. According to Bild am Sonntag, 19 individuals who had applied for asylum were among the 286 people turned back on Thursday and Friday out of 365 unauthorized entries.
This marks the first time asylum seekers have been refused entry at the border since the new policy came into effect. The reasons for rejections included a lack of valid visas, falsified documents, and entry bans. Four individuals classified as “vulnerable” were allowed to enter.
Authorities also detained 14 suspected human traffickers, enforced 48 outstanding arrest warrants, and apprehended nine individuals linked to extremist ideologies ranging from far-left and far-right to Islamist groups.
Chancellor Merz has pledged permanent border controls at all nine of Germany’s land borders, arguing that migrants should claim asylum in the first safe EU country they enter. Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt clarified that certain groups—such as children, pregnant women, and other vulnerable individuals—would be exempt.
To support the initiative, roughly 3,000 additional federal police officers will be deployed.
The policy shift comes amid growing pressure on the center-right CDU/CSU-led coalition, which is currently polling neck-and-neck with the right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD). The AfD was recently designated a “confirmed right-wing extremist” group by Germany’s domestic intelligence agency, a label that has since been put on hold pending a court ruling.
Asylum applications in Germany have declined sharply, with just over 37,000 applications filed in the first quarter of 2025—a 46% drop from the same period the previous year.
