Illegal immigration into Germany reached a five-year high in the first quarter of 2024, the latest government figures show.

The federal government admitted its failure to combat the ongoing migration crisis in its written response to a question by AfD lawmaker Martin Hess, as seen by German news outlet Junge Freiheit.

It revealed that up to April 1, a total of 20,000 illegal border crossings into Germany were registered by federal police, up 2 percent for the same period last year.

In March, the last month for which figures are available, a significant increase in illegal migrant activity was recorded at the German-Polish border where the largest number of illegal border crossings took place.

A total of 1,646 irregular crossings were detected from Poland into Germany for March, up from 911 cases in the previous month. Illegal crossings from Czechia also rose from 509 to 644. In total, 7,079 cases of illegal border activity were recorded in March, up from 5,993 in February.

The figures are contrary to remarks made by Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser last month who told the regional Funke Mediengruppe newspaper that the government’s crackdown on illegal immigration was a success.

“Because of our border controls, we have arrested 708 suspected smugglers and stopped 17,600 migrants crossing the border illegally since October,” Faeser told the news group.

“Those who do not need our protection cannot come to Germany, or should be asked to leave Germany even more quickly,” she added.

The figures were only published following a request by Martin Hess, an MP for the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.

Commenting on the government’s revelation in a social media post on Tuesday, Hess wrote, “While Nancy Faeser is selling the border controls as a success in the media, the figures show that the situation is still not under control. Illegal entries have also increased compared to the same period last year.”

The conservative lawmaker claimed that border officials were lacking “an essential tool for combating illegal migration on the ground” and called for federal police officers to “finally be given the opportunity to turn back illegal immigrants at the borders.”

He demanded urgent fundamental change in Germany’s migration policy and accused the left-liberal coalition government in Berlin of having “no interest in using all available means to combat mass immigration.”

“Instead, she [Faeser] wants to appease the public with symbolic politics. This is pure election campaign tactics. The upper limit for illegal immigrants must be zero. And for this to happen, a paradigm shift in migration policy is essential.”

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