Germany announces temporary checks on borders with Poland, Czech Republic

Germany announced on Wednesday that it will introduce temporary checks on the borders with Poland and the Czech Republic in a bid to curb the entry of irregular migrants.

Interior Minister Nancy Faeser told reporters that she has ordered, with immediate effect, additional police measures on the country’s borders with Poland and the Czech Republic.

“We must stop the cruel business of smugglers who put human lives at risk. That is why the police are now carrying out additional, flexible, and goal-oriented checks along the smuggling routes,” she said after a parliamentary committee meeting.

Faeser said the police will reinforce mobile patrols and implement checks on vehicles suspected of carrying irregular migrants.

The German government has come under mounting pressure recently to tackle migration as the number of irregular migrants entering the country surged in the past couple of months.

Around 205,000 migrants applied for asylum in Germany between January and August this year, marking an increase of 77% compared with the same period last year.