🔶 Germany has sent back more than half of refugees at its land borders

The federal police of Germany in the first half of 2026 have sent back more than half of the refugees who had filed asylum requests upon illegal entry into this country’s land borders. Based on the German government’s response to a request from the Left Party (Die Linke) parliamentary group, the federal police in this period recorded more than a thousand refugees at the land borders; more than half of that number were sent back. At the same time, the federal police recorded about 20,000 cases of illegal entry into Germany via its land borders.

According to information from the federal government, only about 5% of people identified upon illegal entry through land borders had filed asylum requests.

In the first half of the year, the highest number of illegal entries concerned Germany’s border with France, but the highest proportion of people sent back relative to the number of illegal entries was recorded at Germany’s border with Poland; the German government said this was due to France’s refusal to accept those individuals.