German border officials say stepped-up spot checks along the 460-kilometre frontier with Poland are paying off. According to figures released on 13 July by the Federal Police Directorate Bad Bramstedt, officers registered 439 unauthorised entries in the first half of 2026, almost half the 813 cases recorded in the same period of 2025. June showed the steepest decline, suggesting that additional mobile patrols and the use of automated number-plate readers at key crossings near Pomellen and Görlitz are deterring smugglers. The majority of migrants detected were travelling on the so-called “Belarus route”, reaching Germany via Belarus, Lithuania and Poland. After on-the-spot consultations with Polish counterparts, 389 people were returned immediately under bilateral readmission arrangements. Ninety-four outstanding arrest warrants were executed during the operation and 10 suspected people-smugglers were taken into custody, down from 18 last year. Berlin introduced temporary internal Schengen controls in October 2025 amid a sharp rise in irregular arrivals. Although controversial with freight hauliers, the controls have been repeatedly extended and now run at least until November 2026. Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser argues that they are “targeted and proportionate”, focusing on organised smuggling rings rather than day-trippers or legitimate commuters. For corporate mobility teams the data point to shorter wait times and fewer random inspections for staff crossing by road or rail. Companies moving equipment between German and Polish sites should nonetheless budget for periodic stops and advise drivers to carry assignment letters, as officers continue to make ad-hoc inspections of vans and coaches. The decline in apprehensions may strengthen the government’s hand in Brussels, where Berlin is lobbying for a permanent legal basis for differentiated internal border checks within the Schengen Code. In the bigger picture, the numbers will feed into the Bundestag debate on the forthcoming Immigration Control Act, expected this autumn. Law-makers must reconcile calls for tougher action against smugglers with the need to keep the common travel area functioning for trade. The latest figures suggest that technology-enabled, intelligence-led controls—rather than blanket closures—can move that debate forward.
Source: Die Zeit (dpa wire)
