Germany received more than one million refugees in 2015, the year it witnessed Angela Merkel It opened doors for Syrians fleeing the civil war in their country. However, another 750,000 arrived in 2016, according to official figures … It is suspected that these numbers were actually much higher. From that point on, the annual number began to decrease, but data for 2025 shows that the flow continues.
This is the thirteenth year in a row that Germany has registered more than 100,000 asylum seekers. This means that the country still receives a medium-sized city of refugees each year, despite the more restrictive reception policies implemented by the previous and current government.
Even the closure of borders and systematic controls decided this year will not be able to stop the phenomenon of population transfer that responds to global mechanisms, but must be managed by local authorities.
Senator Berlin for Social Affairs, Kansel KiziltepeIt is striving to expand the capacity of containers installed as temporary housing on the runways of the former Tegel Airport in the German capital. About 3,900 refugees from the Ukrainian war and about 540 asylum seekers are currently residing in the arrival center. About 1,500 people are waiting in tents and containers for modular housing or rooms in the city’s shelter network.
“Expanding Tegel’s authority is not an express desire of the Senate; Arrivals are rising again and the 16 sites planned so far will not be enough; They will give us a little air to breathe, but the overall challenge will remain,” the Berlin mayor admitted in November. Kay WegenerDuring a visit to the works.
“The numbers of arrivals are rising again, and the 16 sites planned so far will not be enough.”
Kay Wegener
Mayor of Berlin
At the other end of the city, in the residential district of Blankenburg, the construction of a new generation container settlement for 500 people has just been put out to tender for €20 million. Work will begin in April and will be operational at the beginning of 2027. Germany has taken major steps against illegal immigration Now a type of refugees is arriving in the country that is more controlled by the authorities, but they continue to arrive, above all, from Syria, Afghanistan, Turkey, Somalia and Iraq, in that order.
German Chancellor Friedrich MerzMeasures have been taken to implement a “effective ban on entry into the Federal Republic of Germany” for all persons without valid entry documents. Moreover, he promised that “the number of daily deportations will be much higher than the number of daily illegal entries.”
The deportations of about 20,000 people carried out this year through October represent a significant increase. But despite all efforts, no Syrians have been deported so far, and every plane that takes off carrying Afghans or citizens of other countries in Africa and Asia must overcome numerous legal hurdles.
Although the majority arrive via other safe EU countries, only 5,112 people were registered at the end of November under the so-called Dublin Regulation, according to the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF).
The Constitutional Court made the matter more difficult by issuing a ruling in favor of a Guinean national who was due to be deported in 2019. When the police came to search for him in the state shelter, they locked the door from the inside and the agents broke it down. According to Karlsruhe judges, deportation does not justify a home invasion without a specific court order.
Reality prevails
Germany offers return tickets and up to €2,000 in cash to return to the country of origin, as well as advice for starting a business or obtaining vocational training there through BAMF programmes. Berlin is also forcing the European Union to reclassify countries as “safe,” but reality trumps politics.
On a trip to Syria in November, the German Foreign Minister Johan Wadfall He admitted, in the ruins of Damascus, that “it is difficult for anyone to live here with dignity” and compared the scene to the landscape of devastated Germany in 1945. His words seemed to dismiss government policy and reopen the eternal debate.
He confirmed to ABC: “No, I will not return, no matter what they offer me.” Riad Sallouma dentist in a clinic in Starnberg. He saved for five years to pay the 34,000 euros it cost him to travel and obtain legal visas for him and his wife, in addition to selling his car and house. “In the neighborhood where I live in Damascus there is not even electricity, and I will not take my children there.”