BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany’s new interior minister has issued orders to reject undocumented migrants and wants to deploy thousands more police officers at the country’s borders, Bild newspaper reported on Wednesday, the first day of work for a new government under migration hardliner Friedrich Merz.
Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt, a member of Merz’s conservative bloc which has formed a coalition with the Social Democrats, has lifted an order from 2015 that allowed entry to undocumented third-country nationals, Bild reported.
The ministry declined to comment on report. Dobrindt is scheduled to give a statement to reporters later Wednesday.
Dobrindt also plans to send up to 3,000 additional officers to the borders to curb irregular migration, which would raise the number of border police to up to 14,000, the report said, citing unnamed government sources.
The 2015 instruction was given under then-chancellor Angela Merkel, whose term was defined by the arrival of hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers in Germany, many fleeing war in Syria.
Before the German election in February, Merz promised a crackdown on migration after a spate of violent crimes with migrant suspects and rising support for the far-right.
His coalition has since agreed to reject asylum seekers at borders, enable deportations to Syria and suspend family reunions.
(Reporting by Markus Wacket, Writing by Rachel More, Editing by Madeline Chambers)
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