Ms Nancy Faeser also said that countries needed to do more to protect the European Union's fragile open border system.

According to official data, the number of first-time asylum requests in Germany increased by 78% in the first seven months of 2023. Police data shows that in August, the number of people illegally crossing into Germany reached 14,701, up 66% compared to the same period last year.

“If we do not succeed in better protecting our external borders… then open borders within the EU will be at risk,” Nancy Faeser told reporters in Berlin.

She said the focus of the new measures would be on fighting people smugglers, who are responsible for a quarter of all migrants entering Germany.

“We want to prevent the evasion of traffickers through flexible and mobile controls in many places,” she said, adding that these measures would be initiated in coordination with Poland and the Czech Republic.

Czech police have stepped up random checks at the Slovak border as well as on highways to Germany, Czech Police Minister Martin Vondrasek said.

Migration is high on the agenda in Germany as a series of state elections loom, starting with votes in Bavaria and Hesse on October 8. The far right is expected to gain more voters as the migration issue becomes increasingly fraught.

City authorities have called for more funding to cope with the influx, saying the problems with accommodation and delayed services are similar to the 2015 crisis, when Germany took in more than 1 million refugees fleeing war in the Middle East.

Trung Kien (according to Reuters)