Fed up with living in Greek camps, a rising number of illegal third world migrants have been heading to Germany by aeroplane, authorities warn.
While only 11,000 people were recorded illegally entering the country by air last year, the Joint Centre for Illegal Migration Analysis and Policy (GASIM) estimate the number to be much higher after Germany saw around 15,000 new asylum seekers break through its borders each month in 2017.
Investigating as to how nearly 200,000 migrants arrived to seek asylum last year when Germany does not border any conflict zones, surveys by the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) found around a third of new migrants report travelling by air from EU nations.
Within the Schengen area, Greece was the main departure point for asylum seekers who flew to Germany by plane, followed by Poland, a spokesman for the Federal Interior Ministry told Die Welt.
But Germany moved to shut this route, ordering authorities to check passports before allowing passengers to fly, in November last year as security experts warned the migrant crisis had become a major human trafficking hub, where international criminal networks forge passports and identification with impunity.
Since checks were introduced, migrants have begun flying to airports in Central Europe like Warsaw, where they continue heading towards Germany on land, GASIM reported.
“Migrants and traffickers are very flexible when it comes to the route and mode of transport used for smuggling, and this is especially the case when air travel is involved,” a source at the agency said.
Migrants stuck in Greece and open borders activist held a number of protests demanding Germany “open the doors” in 2017, two years on from Chancellor Angela Merkel’s decision to scrap the Dublin Agreement, effectively promising food, board, and welfare payments to unlimited numbers of third world immigrants.
Appearing on German media last month, a Syrian father-of-six expressed his gratitude to the Chancellor for opening the border after family reunification rules allowed him to reunite with his children and two wives — one of whom was just 13 when married— at taxpayers’ expense.