German cities have reported an easing of the national immigration 'emergency' after asylum claims were cut by half amid a crackdown by Chancellor Friedrich Merz.
It comes after the newly elected chancellor scrapped Angela Merkel's open border policy by issuing orders to turn undocumented migrants away from the nation.
September will mark the tenth anniversary of the peak of the European migration crisis, when then-Chancellor Merkel announced she would keep Germany’s borders open to more than a million asylum seekers over the following year.
But Alexander Dobrindt, Germany's interior minister, rescinded Merkel's 2015 order in May, meaning everyone without proper documentation, apart from children and pregnant women, would be turned away if they tried to enter Germany from a neighbouring country.
Since Merkel's order, the country granted protection to 3.5 million refugees, including many fleeing civil war in Syria, and about around 1.2 million Ukrainians seeking safety from Russia's full-scale invasion.
