Germany expands border controls as right pressures government on migration

The governing parties are seeking to head off challenge of the far right as it faces key elections.

Germany has expanded border control measures, with the crossings to all nine of its neighbouring countries now being checked.

The checks, implemented on Monday in what the government said last week are a bid to to curb entry of undocumented migrants, are due to last six months.

The move has drawn criticism from other European Union members, rights groups, and Brussels for disrupting the bloc’s border-free Schengen zone. However, with national elections looming next year, Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government is under intense political pressure from far-right political groups to toughen its stance on migration in the wake of a deadly knife attack.

The controls include temporary physical structures at land crossings and spot checks by federal police, according to the AFP news agency.

Border controls with Poland, the Czech Republic, Austria and Switzerland were already in place before the extended regime was announced. Checks will now also cover Germany’s borders with France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Belgium and Denmark.

On Sunday, Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said the step aims to limit irregular migration and “put a stop to criminals and identify and stop Islamists at an early stage”.

Faeser promised to minimise the effect of the restrictions on people living and working in border regions, assuring “coordination with our neighbouring countries”.

The Ministry of the Interior advised travellers to carry identification when crossing the border.

Poland and Austria have voiced concern, and the European Commission has warned that EU members impose such steps only in exceptional circumstances.

However, the Social Democrat-led government is being pulled to the right.

Germany took in more than one million asylum seekers in 2015-16, many of them Syrians, and has hosted another million or so Ukrainians since the start of the Russian invasion in 2022.

But a string of incidents in recent weeks, including a deadly knife rampage, have shocked Germany, fuelling rising public anger and demands for border control.

That has helped radical right-wing forces to gain support. Last month, the anti-immigration, far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party won state elections in Thuringia and came second in Saxony.

The AfD is also leading in polls ahead of upcoming state elections in Brandenburg. Faeser’s Social Democrats currently governs the state in coalition with the Greens and Christian Democrats.

A spokesperson for the Interior Ministry told reporters on Monday that racial profiling will not be allowed at the borders.

“There is absolutely no question [of racial profiling], and I would like to emphasise this again here that racially motivated police action is completely unacceptable and unlawful,” the spokesperson said.

Germany’s Federal Police Union, however, questioned the feasibility of the restrictions, citing issues with staffing and a short preparation period.

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Al Jazeera and news agencies