The number of new refugees arriving in Saxony has fallen sharply this year. By the end of November, 9,447 women, men and children had been registered, according to the Saxony State Directorate. In 2023, there were 22,263 refugees in the same period, and 23,132 at the end of the year. As things stand, the number of newly arrived refugees will therefore more than halve in 2024 and reach the level of 2021 (10,222).
Refugees from Ukraine are not included in these statistics. While 64,188 people came to Saxony from Ukraine in the first year of the Russian war of aggression, the figure was 17,187 in the following year and 8,177 in the first eleven months of this year. A total of 63,452 displaced persons from the war-torn country are currently living in Saxony.
Interior Minister Armin Schuster (CDU) attributes the decline in asylum numbers in Saxony primarily to border controls. At the same time, he is calling for asylum seekers to be turned back if they come from safe third countries. There were again more than 200,000 new asylum applications nationwide in 2024. "With a view to the municipalities and integration, we need a breather - two or three years of figures below 100,000."
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