Overview
- 53% of respondents fully support reducing asylum-seeker inflows and 23% rather support it, according to a YouGov survey for dpa conducted December 12–15 with more than 2,100 eligible voters.
- Only 8% perceive a clear government course change on migration, 38% see a slight shift, and 42% see no change.
- Official BAMF figures report 106,298 first-time asylum applications from January through November 2025, a 51% drop from the same period a year earlier.
- Since May, Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt has intensified checks at all land borders and ordered turn-backs for asylum seekers with exemptions for vulnerable groups such as pregnant people and the sick.
- Dobrindt is pushing EU rules to outsource asylum procedures and to set up return hubs outside the bloc, which require partner countries, while Greens and The Left criticize the approach and he continues to pursue deportations including for criminals to Afghanistan.