Germany stops 14,000 illegal immigrants crossing border

Germany caught 14,000 migrants trying to enter the country illegally on buses or trains from January to November 2018, according to a report by the local Rheinische Post on Monday.

The newspaper said an internal federal police document showed that most of the migrants entered the country from neighboring Austria. The next highest number of illegal crossings was on the border with France and Switzerland.

Almost 8,000 migrants entered Germany on buses and over 6,000 on trains. Most of the migrants were from Afghanistan, Nigeria, Iraq, Syria and Turkey, the report said.

Passport checks on buses will become more difficult after the European Court of Justice ruled that bus companies be prohibited from checking passengers’ passports because Germany is a member of the Schengen area.

A German and a Spanish bus company had brought action against a German regulation requiring them to check passengers’ passports and residence permits before crossing the border.

However, the ruling needs to be reviewed by Germany’s Federal Administrative Court

Source: GNA