The German Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) says the number of asylum applications in January 2023 has more than doubled compared to last year.
BAMF statistics released on Tuesday state that around 29,000 asylum seekers had applied for refugee status in Germany last month, more than twice the number in January 2022, which saw a total of 13,776 applications.
The vast majority of those applying for asylum came from just a few countries, including Syria, Turkey, Iran and Afghanistan, the European Union-funded website InfoMigrants reports.
“Germany is slipping deeper and deeper into the new migration crisis,” said Alexander Throm, domestic policy spokesman for the opposition Christian Democratic Union (CDU)/Bavarian Christian Social Union (CSU) parliamentary group.
Last week Throm accused Interior Minister Nancy Faeser, a member of the Social Democrats (SPD), of leaving regional governments without help to deal with the influx of illegals and asylum seekers, as many have previously expressed issues with finding accommodation.
“Nancy Faeser wants to become prime minister in Hesse, but as Interior Minister, she leaves the states and municipalities in the lurch,” Throm said.
“There has long been a consensus among our EU partners to manage and limit migration. Only Germany is taking a special path.” Throm added, accusing Interior Minister Faeser of not carrying out enough deportations.
Despite seeing 217,000 non-Ukrainian asylum applications in 2022 — the highest since the 2015-16 migrant crisis — the German government wants to further increase certain kinds of immigration.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz says that while he supported the deportation of failed asylum seekers, Germany requires more immigrants to fill skilled jobs.
“Those who do not receive the right to stay must leave Germany,” Sholz told the German parliament, the Bundestag. “We need clarity about who is coming to Europe and why.”
Along with proposing European Union-level policies, such as support for the border agency Frontex and a common voluntary mechanism to redistribute asylum seekers from countries along the EU border, Scholz claimed his government would look to further support regions and municipalities.