German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt continues to advocate for EU internal border controls, calling them essential to the country’s “migration turnaround.” Dobrindt (CSU) announced tighter measures on his first day in office, fulfilling a key CDU/CSU campaign pledge.
Since his appointment, federal police have turned back roughly 1,340 asylum seekers at the border as of April 2026, according to Tagesschau. Monthly rejections have remained steady at 2,000 to 3,000, largely unchanged from the period before he took office.
However, asylum applications have fallen more sharply: from 350,000 in 2023 to 170,000 last year. Dobrindt cited this drop as evidence that his approach is working. “We have now been able to execute 8,000 arrest warrants at the border,” he told the daily Die Welt.
