Law enforcement agencies halt numerous unauthorized crossings at borders
In the Schengen area, common rules govern external borders, visas, and police cooperation. However, within Germany, specifically in the region of Lower Saxony, there has been an increase in border control apprehensions from September 2024 to July 2025.
According to the latest reports, between mid-September 2024 and late July 2025, a total of 1,516 unauthorized entries and attempted entries into Lower Saxony were registered. During the same period, officers arrested 59 suspected smugglers. Additionally, 99 individuals were arrested due to outstanding arrest warrants, and 70 individuals were turned back at the border by the Federal Police in Hanover.
The intensified controls were ordered by then-Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) and are still in effect. The controls were announced by Dobrindt in May 2024, instructing the Federal Police to turn back asylum seekers at the border if they had already been registered in a safe third country. Temporary border controls were reintroduced at all German land borders with member states of the Schengen area in September 2024.
However, specific data or causative explanations for the stated timeframe and location are not readily available. Factors that can influence increases in border control apprehensions often involve political or military instability in neighboring regions, changes in asylum or migration laws and their enforcement, seasonal migration patterns and economic conditions, and enhanced border patrol measures or shifts in border routes.
For more precise statistics and reasons, consulting official sources such as the German Federal Police (Bundespolizei), Lower Saxony’s Interior Ministry, or reports from relevant migration or border monitoring agencies published after July 2025 would be necessary.
It is also important to note that the Schengen area, a union of around 30 European countries, does not normally provide for internal controls. In some cases, officers made a hit in the left-wing, right-wing, and foreign extremist or Islamist spectrum during the period under review. A total of 399 people with outstanding arrest warrants were apprehended during the same period, and 212 turnbacks were recorded by the Federal Police.
In conclusion, while the exact reasons for the increase in border control apprehensions in Lower Saxony, Germany, from September 2024 to July 2025 are not yet definitively known, the intensified controls announced by Dobrindt and the ongoing efforts of the German authorities to address the issue suggest a continued focus on border security and migration management in the region.
The increase in border control apprehensions in Lower Saxony, Germany, from September 2024 to July 2025 might be linked to political instability in neighboring regions, changes in asylum or migration laws, seasonal migration patterns, or enhanced border patrol measures. This surge in apprehensions occurred amidst intensified controls ordered by then-Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser and the ongoing focus on border security and migration management in the region.
