The two articles below discuss crime committed by immigrants in Germany, especially those who arrived after Angela Merkel welcomed all the refugees in 2015. Some of the misbehaving immigrants are common or garden criminals, while others engage in organized crime, forming their own ethnic mafias.

Many thanks to Hellequin GB for the translations.

First, from Focus Online, a report on unorganized crime by migrants:

Debate after the Würzburg attack: BKA [Bundeskriminalamt, Federal Criminal Police Office] paper shows the true extent of immigrant crime

After the cowardly knife attack in Würzburg, the question arises: What is the extent of crime by asylum seekers in Germany?

FOCUS Online has a new BKA analysis on the highly explosive topic. Conclusion: While the number of crimes committed by immigrants is generally falling slightly, it is increasing for crimes such as murder and manslaughter. Three dead, several seriously injured, a city in a state of emergency — the knife attack by a 24-year-old Somali in Würzburg shocked Germany and rekindled a debate that had died down somewhat due to Corona. A debate that essentially revolves around the question: How great is the level of crime by asylum seekers in Germany? While parts of the population use spectacular crimes such as the one in Würzburg as an opportunity to label immigrants as “criminal” across the board, other groups downplay such bloody acts as “individual cases”. But neither the one nor the other extreme position does justice to the matter, as a look at the crime statistics reveals.

Immigration crime: BKA situation picture for 2020

According to information from FOCUS Online, the German police authorities counted a total of around 2,000 homicides from 2016 to 2020 (exactly 1989 cases solved) in which at least one immigrant was identified as a suspect. All attempted and completed “crimes against life”, including murder, manslaughter and negligent homicide, were included in the balance sheet. Immigrants are foreigners who have been registered with the status of “asylum seeker”, “quota refugee”, “tolerated” or “unauthorized resident”.

Last year alone, police in Germany recorded 370 solved crimes against life in which at least one immigrant was identified as a suspect, 3.6 percent more than in 2019 (357 cases). This emerges from the federal situation report “Crime in the context of immigration 2020” created by the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA), which has been made available to FOCUS Online.

370 homicides: 452 immigrants as suspects

According to the balance sheet, of the 370 homicides in the past year, 84 were completed. The most common offenses were manslaughter (247 cases, around 88 percent of which remained at the experimental stage) and murder (94 cases). In the 370 cases, a total of 452 immigrants were caught as suspects; 14 of them were suspects in several homicides. With the classification as a suspect, the police make it clear that the perpetrator has not yet been proven or that no final conviction has yet been obtained. It is noteworthy that among the investigated crimes against life, the proportion of suspect immigrants (452 people) in relation to the total number of suspects registered across Germany (3649 people) is 12.4 percent. This is the highest number for all crime groups. For crimes against sexual self-determination, the proportion is 8.5 percent (5185 suspect immigrants, 60,992 suspects in total), and 7.2 percent for drug offenses (20,479 suspect immigrants, 284,723 suspects in total).

More crimes against life, otherwise decline

The increase in the number of cases for the most serious of all crimes, crimes against life, is of course an exception in the BKA’s balance sheet for 2020. In all other areas, crime by immigrants fell. Here are some examples:

• Interpersonal violence / crimes against personal freedom: 64,073 cases (-6.3 percent compared to 2019),
• Property and forgery offenses: 55,764 cases (-8.0 percent),
• Theft: 57,331 cases (-2.7 percent),
• Narcotics offenses: 29,183 (-6.3 percent),
• Offenses against sexual self-determination: 5719 (-1.4 percent).

The most important findings from the Federal Situation Report by FOCUS Online gives an overview of other central findings from the BKA analysis of immigrant crime:

In 2020, there were 253,640 crimes in the area of general crime (excluding violations of immigration law) involving at least one suspect immigrant. That was 8.6 percent of all 2.96 million solved crimes in Germany. Compared to 2019, this means a decrease of 4.7 percent. The proportion of suspect immigrants (136,588) in relation to the total number of suspects (1.86 million) in 2020 was 7.3 percent. Compared to the previous year, this corresponds to a decrease of 9.5 percent. More than two thirds of the identified crimes with at least one suspect immigrant occurred in the areas of interpersonal violence and crimes against personal freedom (share: 25.3 percent), theft (22.6 percent) and property and forgery offenses (22 percent). The largest proportion — 38.2 percent — of suspect immigrants in 2020, as in the past two years, were people from Syria (27,561 people), Afghanistan (14,750) and Iraq (9,835). Immigrants from these three countries make up the largest proportion of asylum seekers in Germany at 57.6 percent. The proportion of suspect immigrants from the Maghreb states of Algeria and Morocco, at a total of 5.1 percent, was also roughly on the level of the previous year, with their share of asylum seekers being only 2.1 percent. 86.2 percent of the suspect immigrants were male, around 60 percent were younger than 30 years old. The exact distribution of the age groups: 2.7 percent children, 6.8 percent adolescents, 11 percent adolescents and 79.5 percent adults.

20 crimes and more: Many suspects were noticed more often

Similar to previous years, around a third of suspect immigrants (32.4 percent) were registered for several criminal offenses. Around 2100 people who were caught committed 11 to 20 crimes, around 700 with 21 or more crimes. Libya, Georgia and the Maghreb states had a particularly high proportion of such suspects.

Among the total of around 89,000 victims of crimes involving suspect immigrants were just under 42,000 Germans (around 47 percent). 34,700 victims were also immigrants (39 percent). In the area of murder, manslaughter and homicide on request, 103 Germans fell victim to a crime in which at least one immigrant suspect was involved. Of these, 12 Germans were victims of an accomplished deed and died.

5.7 percent of all crime victims were immigrants

Immigrants in Germany were the victims of a total of 57,205 crimes last year. Most of them were assault crimes (44,481 cases, which corresponds to 77.8 percent). This means that 5.7 percent of all registered victims in the nationwide Crime Statistics were Immigrants. 313 immigrants were victims of murder, manslaughter, and homicide on demand (tried and completed cases). 66 of them were victims of an accomplished homicide and died. 11,745 immigrants were victims of a crime involving at least one German suspect. In the area of murder, manslaughter and killing on request, 46 immigrants were victims of acts in which at least one German was involved. Six of them fell victim to an accomplished deed and died.

BKA: The majority of asylum seekers are not conspicuous

In its overall assessment, the BKA comes to the conclusion that the immigration of asylum seekers also had an impact on the crime situation in Germany in 2020. However, the trend in both the number of criminal offenses and the number of suspects is “clearly declining”. The BKA states that “the majority of the asylum seekers registered in Germany since 2015 did not appear under criminal law”. To illustrate: From 2015 to 2020, a total of around 1.78 million asylum seekers were registered in Germany, with the number of new applications falling from 890,000 in 2015 to just 106,685 last year.

Corona restrictions possible cause of decline

An explanation for the downward trend could be seen “in the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic”, say BKA officials. The restrictions on contact and movement “changed the structure of the crime scene”. “In particular, this applied to those areas of crime in which immigrants are particularly conspicuous, such as theft, bodily harm and fraudulent use of transportation”. The relatively high proportion of suspect immigrants, especially in the area of offenses against life, is of course a cause for concern for security experts, as is the development of property and falsification offenses, interpersonal violence offenses and crimes against sexual self-determination. The BKA warns: “The group of multiple and intensive offenders among the immigrants should also be kept in focus, which was involved in three quarters of all registered crimes with suspect immigrants in 2020.”

Now for the organized culture-enriching crime, also from Focus Online:

The BKA sounds the alarm

Drugs, burglaries, clan swamp: Immigrants are increasingly active in organized crime

The BKA’s dramatic balance sheet: In 2020 the police arrested 890 suspect immigrants who are classified as organized crime (OC) — 76 percent more than in 2019. In addition, 85 OC gangs were led by immigrants — an 89 percent increase over the previous year. At the top: Albanians, Lebanese and Turks. “Gambian refugees control the drug scene” (Stuttgarter Nachrichten) or “Nigerian gangs want to expand in Germany” (Welt) — headlines like this keep causing excitement. The reports revolve around a phenomenon that has been bothering German security authorities for a number of years: The activities of asylum seekers in the area of organized crime.

BKA situation picture on organized crime: More immigrants

Now experts from the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) are sounding the alarm. In their recently published federal situation report “Crime in the context of immigration” for 2020, they devote an entire chapter to the topic of organized crime.

Central statement: Immigrants, especially from Albania, Lebanon and Turkey , are increasingly spreading into the underworld of organized crime. All foreigners who have been registered with the status of “asylum seeker”, “quota refugee”, “tolerance” or “unauthorized residence” are considered immigrants.

“Both the number of suspect immigrants in the OC area and the number of OC groups dominated by immigrants rose in 2020,” the police authority notes. The groups are particularly active in drug trafficking and smuggling. The BKA warns that the new OC structures that are favored by immigration must be recognized “early” and “aggressively targeted”.

85 groups of perpetrators are dominated by immigrants

According to the analysis, around 600 proceedings against OC groups were conducted nationwide last year. The number of suspect immigrants in this area rose “significantly” — from 505 in 2019 to 890 now. That is an increase of 76 percent. The number of OC groups dominated by immigrants also skyrocketed. While the police counted 45 such groups in 2019, it was 85 last year — an increase of 89 percent. “Dominated” means that the criminal activity within the respective group was largely determined by immigrants.

Police: Many suspects entered the country before 2015

The worrying development is not only attributable to asylum seekers who have come to Germany since 2015. On the contrary, in its criminal offense balance sheet, the BKA states that “almost two thirds of the immigrants suspected of having committed OC offenses had entered the federal territory before 2015”. In the area of drug trafficking and smuggling alone, 50 OC proceedings were conducted nationwide in 2020, in which the suspects were immigrants. Other offenses: human trafficking (14 proceedings), property and economic crime (five proceedings each) and counterfeit crime (four proceedings).

Lucrative business: drugs, break-ins, smuggling

According to the BKA, a total of 16 OC groups — and thus almost one in five — are “dominated by Albanian immigrants”. 14 of them are involved in drug dealing, one each in property crime (break-ins, theft) and one in human trafficking. Eight OC groups are dominated by Lebanese and Turkish immigrants, six by Kosovar immigrants and five by Syrian Immigrants. It is nothing new that immigrants are entering criminal markets and trying to earn big money with dirty business. The topic already played a major role in the “Federal Situation Report for Organized Crime” for 2019. At that time, the 505 suspect immigrants made up 7.4 percent of all suspects (6848 people) in the OK area. This proportion is likely to have increased significantly in 2020.

Immigrants also play a role in clan crime

In this context, experts warn of a further development. It is about the increasing involvement of immigrants in clan crime. As early as 2019, the police registered immigrants as suspects in around a third of the proceedings against criminal Arab clans. The President of the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA), Holger Münch, declared even then that one had to “keep an eye on the phenomenon very closely.”