Migrants are walking out of German asylum registration centres and either disappearing into the countryside or travelling on to other countries in Europe, an official in the eastern state of Brandenburg has warned. On Wednesday alone some 600 people absconded and that number is bound to grow as the sheer weight of mostly young, Muslim men invading Germany continues to build.
Official figures reveal the Brandenburg government accepted more than 17,000 new arrivals since the beginning of September and around 7800 have been accommodated in cities and communities, while another 2,700 people are still waiting for official registration. The remaining 7,000 people were partially distributed in other provinces or simply left for places unknown.
According to Online Focus, Ingo Decker, spokesman for the interior ministry in Brandenburg, said: “These refugees are simply sometimes no longer there.” On Wednesday more than 600 people departed from the initial reception, reported the deputy ministry spokeswoman Susann Fischer.
Another serious problem for Brandenburg authorities is the many thousands of people wandering on their own in the Federal territory pose a substantial security threat, Mr. Decker said. He believes it is quite possible “that refugees would be registered more than once at various centres”. Their registration is based, as a rule, on their own nomination of an identity which cannot be verified, given that most if not all migrants arrive without any documents.
“So if you register with us in Eisenhüttenstadt as Muhammed Ali, maybe a little later again in Hamburg as Ali Mohammed, it is confusing” Mr Decker. This happens because “proper registration at the [German] border is not still in sight.”
Meanwhile Reuters reports German Chancellor Angela Merkel is under intense pressure for her handling of the refugee crisis with her Bavarian allies warning of a full-blown coalition crisis unless she takes immediate action to limit the record influx of migrants.
The Christian Social Union (CSU), sister party to Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU), have been outspoken in their criticism of her “open doors” policy towards asylum seekers, in part because their home state of Bavaria is the entry point for virtually all of the migrants arriving in Germany.
Bavarian Premier Horst Seehofer has issued a series of ultimatums to Merkel in recent weeks, including a threat to take the government to court over its refugee policies, only to back down at the last minute.
But the rhetoric reached new heights on Wednesday, according to Reuters, with one senior Bavarian official saying relations between the traditional allies had reached their lowest point in nearly 40 years and a German newspaper reported that Seehofer was considering pulling CSU ministers out of Merkel’s cabinet in protest.
“We are in the midst of a real coalition crisis,” Bavarian Finance Minister Markus Soeder told the Sueddeutsche Zeitung.
“The relationship between the CDU and CSU is more difficult than at any time since 1976,” he added, referring to a major fight between former party leaders Helmut Kohl and Franz-Josef Strauss which nearly led to a split.