The Greens accuse the state government of focusing on crimes committed by immigrants with an inappropriate twist of the tongue. Florian Siekmann (Greens) said in the state parliament on Wednesday that Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann (CSU) was “listing the wrong questions in order to really achieve more security in Bavaria.” The Interior Committee had previously discussed the police crime statistics published on Monday, or PKS for short. Herrmann said on Monday that this “makes it clear that uncontrolled immigration also has a negative impact on the security situation.” He linked this with an appeal to the federal government for a “fundamental change of course in asylum policy”. The CSU in the Interior Committee again attested to the Greens’ attempt to trivialize foreign crime.
According to the PKS 2023, the total number of crimes increased slightly compared to the previous year. This is due, among other things, to a significant increase in shoplifting (plus 19.5 percent to 42,449 crimes), while violent crime cases rose by 4.7 percent to 21,579. Of all the suspects in all crimes, almost 40 percent were foreigners. Within this group, the number of “immigrants” – the term means people in the context of asylum and flight – grew by 20.5 percent to 32,037 people compared to 2022; Meanwhile, the number of people seeking protection had only increased by nine percent within a year, according to the minister. In 3,517 cases of violent crime, the suspects were immigrants, an increase of 12.3 percent.
Half of the victims in these cases were immigrants themselves; in a quarter, asylum centers were the crime scene. Violent crime primarily includes homicide, dangerous and serious bodily harm, robbery and extortion, as well as rape and serious sexual assault.
“There’s no question that every act of violence is one too many,” said Green Party politician Siekmann in the Interior Committee, of which he is deputy chairman. However, the increase in crimes committed by immigrants is not primarily due to violent crime, but rather due to theft or fare evasion. These are crimes that do not have such a strong impact on the population’s sense of security; they are “poverty crimes” that can be “avoided” through better prospects for asylum seekers such as work permits. Added to this is the fact, says Siekmann, that many violent crimes are triggered by the limited space and the potential for conflict in large accommodation facilities. In this respect, he wanted to correct the Interior Minister’s focus at his press conference on Monday.
Florian Siekmann (Greens) is deputy chairman of the Interior Committee.
(Photo: Peter Hinz-Rosin)
Opposition came from the coalition factions. “I can’t accept that everything is being talked down to lightly,” said Holger Dremel (CSU) in Siekmann’s address. It was “exactly right” that the minister presented the connection between immigration and the increase in crime, “you have to be able to say that.” It shouldn’t be the case that at some point owners no longer report cases of “excessive shoplifting.” The German Police Union (DPolG) in Bavaria had recently made a similar statement: groups of perpetrators must be “clearly named” and the enforcement of the rule of law “starts on a small scale”. Alfred Grob (CSU) added that he probably had a “fundamentally different understanding of the law” than the Greens.
On Wednesday, the Interior Committee held a lively but objective debate about the effects of migration on crime. In the eyes of Wolfgang Hauber (FW), asylum policy can no longer continue as usual “for security reasons alone.” Richard Graupner (AfD) said that we should be “thankful to the minister for having addressed this so clearly for the first time this year.” Like Siekmann, Christiane Feichtmeier (SPD) spoke of large-scale asylum accommodation as a problem. After the publication of the PKS, she accused the minister of “conflating CSU migration policy and combating crime” and said there should be no “general suspicion” based on origin.
The Interior Committee was concerned about the increase in violent crimes in Bavarian schools. In 2022, 554 cases were registered, last year there were 690. The trend can be seen nationwide, but is apparently by no means spread across the entire Free State. The Bavarian police chief Michael Schwald, who explained the PKS to the MPs, said: The Bavarian police are already doing a lot in this area, preventatively and repressively. Analyzes of details and the causes are still pending; for example, “hot spot schools” will be located and increased prevention programs will be offered there.