BERLIN 

Germany will reintroduce controls at all land borders to reduce irregular migration, the country's interior minister announced on Monday.




“We are strengthening internal security and continuing our hard line against irregular migration,” Nancy Faeser told reporters in Berlin, adding that controls will be in place at all borders beginning next Monday.




“We need stricter controls at our national borders until we would be able to ensure strong protection of the EU's external borders. Our controls at the borders will also make it possible to turn away irregular migrants,” she said.




Faeser recalled that temporary border controls were already in place at the country's borders with Switzerland, Poland, and the Czech Republic, and 30,000 irregular migrants were turned away since October.




She said Berlin informed the European Commission on Monday that it will now extend these controls to the country's borders with France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Belgium and Denmark for six months.




All of Germany's neighbors are part of Europe's border-free Schengen area. The Schengen states are allowed to reintroduce temporary border controls in exceptional situations during major international events, or in case of a serious threat to public order.




Germany's left-liberal coalition government came under growing pressure to curb irregular migration after a stabbing attack in the western city of Solingen last month, in which three people were killed and eight others were injured by a rejected Syrian asylum seeker.




Authorities have said the suspect came to Germany in 2022, but he did not qualify for refugee status in the country. He was supposed to be deported last year to Bulgaria, the first country he entered in the EU. The Daesh/ISIS terrorist group claimed responsibility for the attack.




Germany, which is Europe's largest economy, remains a top destination for irregular migrants and asylum seekers arriving in the EU. Last year, German authorities registered 266,224 cases of illegal entry and residence. Many of the irregular migrants were asylum seekers from Syria and Afghanistan.