Migration: Federal Police: Significantly fewer unauthorized entries in 2024

Last year, the federal police recorded significantly fewer people who entered Germany illegally than in the previous year. Around 83,000 illegal entries were registered – after around 127,500 in 2023. More than every second person apprehended (around 46,750) was rejected directly at the border or in connection with illegal border crossing in 2024, as the Federal Police Headquarters in Potsdam announced. The numbers for December 2024 are still incomplete.

There are actually no border controls in the Schengen area. Since September 16th last year, the federal police have been checking at the land borders with France, Luxembourg, Belgium, the Netherlands and Denmark. Random checks have been in place at the borders with Poland, the Czech Republic and Switzerland since mid-October 2023, and they were introduced at the German-Austrian land border in autumn 2015. However, not every single traveler is checked constantly.

Execution of open arrest warrants as “bycatch”

Since September 16th, the federal police have detected 18,806 unauthorized entries. Of these, 11,675 people were turned back directly at the border or when crossing the border illegally. According to the information, 592 people had a re-entry ban for Germany and were therefore prevented from entering the country. 410 smugglers were temporarily arrested. “2,454 open arrest warrants were executed as bycatch,” the federal police also announced. 285 people from the left-wing, right-wing, foreign extremist or Islamist spectrum were identified.

The police speak of unauthorized entry if a foreigner wants to cross the border without a valid residence permit. According to the Federal Government, rejections are only permitted if someone does not express a request for asylum or if they are temporarily banned from re-entering the country. This is the case, for example, if someone has previously been deported, or for people who come from so-called safe countries of origin if their asylum application has already been rejected as “obviously unfounded”.