Despite thousands of official requests, Germany has failed to deport the vast majority of illegal migrants on its soil to other EU countries under existing agreements. Italy, one of the key frontline states, accepted exactly zero returns last year.
According to daily Bild, Germany issued 3,824 official transfer requests to Italy in the first half of this year under the Dublin Regulation, which stipulates that migrants should apply for asylum in the first EU country they enter. Italy refused to take back a single individual.
Greece hasn’t been too helpful either, approving only 78 out of 3,554 requests, with only 20 illegal migrants actually being deported back to the Mediterranean country.
Out of more than 20,000 such requests Germany made across the EU this year, only around 3,000 migrants were actually relocated. This means 85% of intended deportations failed, leaving the vast majority of arrivals to remain in Germany.
A further 305 out of 2,830 people were returned to Croatia, and 119 out of 1,561 to Bulgaria.
In contrast, Germany took back 29% of migrants following transfer requests from other EU states: of the 7,937 transfer requests, Germany accepted 2,326 cases.
This dismal record exposes not only the failure of the German federal government to enforce its own immigration laws but also the crumbling of the Schengen Area, in which migrants are allowed to roam freely once they enter the European Union, but are unable to be deported.
The statistics highlight the reluctance of frontline EU states to take back migrants whose main target destination is Germany. Several EU countries have reinstated temporary internal border controls—including Germany, and, most recently, Poland—in response to growing migration pressures and perceived failures by their neighbours.
