Ministers pledged to classify knife crime as a grounds for deportation, including to Syria and Afghanistan, to end benefits for asylum seekers who the government determines should seek protection in the first EU country they enter under the Dublin Convention, and to strip protection status from refugees who leave Germany to visit their home countries without a valid reason.
By cutting benefits for these “Dublin” cases, the coalition government hopes to reduce immigration numbers.
According to the German government, of the 25,000 asylum seekers obliged to apply for asylum in other member states, only around 3,500 were actually deported from Germany in the first half of 2024. The suspect in Solingen, for example, avoided deportation to Bulgaria because he hid from the authorities until the deadline expired.
In addition, a total ban on knives will be introduced at public festivals and on public transport, and police will be allowed to carry out random searches for knives.
Buschmann said the new measures would be implemented “as quickly as possible,” but the process is expected to take several months as both ministries must prepare legislation, which then needs to be adopted by cabinet and voted on by both houses of parliament.
Immigration has become a major concern for voters ahead of elections in three eastern German states in September, with the far-right, anti-immigration party Alternative for Germany (AfD) leading or nearing the top in local opinion polls in all three states.
In two state elections this Sunday in Saxony and Thuringia, all three parties in the ruling coalition will struggle to secure the 5 percent threshold needed to enter state parliaments.
Germany has seen a rise in knife attacks in recent months, sparking a national debate about tougher security controls and the creation of knife-free zones. Federal police statistics show that there were around 430 knife attacks in the first half of 2024 alone.
