(MENAFN) Germany has experienced a significant decline in new asylum applications this year compared with 2024, according to recent reports. In September and October, the country received roughly half the number of requests recorded in the previous year, highlighting a clear downward trend.

Last month, 8,823 individuals applied for asylum, down from 19,785 in October 2024. September saw just 9,126 applications, a 49.6% decrease compared to the same month last year, while June marked the lowest point with 6,860 new requests. Although some months earlier in the year had higher numbers, the overall reduction was evident.

Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt described the drop as proof that the government’s tougher refugee policies are “working,” claiming that Berlin has reduced both the “pull factors” and the country’s “magnetic effect on illegal migration.”

The government tightened migration controls following violent incidents involving asylum seekers, including a 2024 knife attack in Solingen, where a Syrian national killed three people and injured eight, and a February car attack in Munich by an Afghan citizen that killed two, including a two-year-old child, and injured at least 39.

Germany has also expanded border checks with EU neighbors, originally implemented due to rising irregular migration, and extended the measures for six months in January ahead of snap federal elections. Deportation efforts have increased as well, with plans reported to repatriate Afghans through negotiations with the Taliban and to deport Syrians classified as “dangerous criminals” or whose asylum claims were rejected, according to Dobrindt.

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