Between 2015 and 2022, there were more than 8,590 reported cases of rape by immigrants in Germany, according to new data released by the federal government, with the vast majority of the victims being females with German citizenship.
The shocking statistics from the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) have already made waves in the German press. In an article for Neue Zürcher Zeitung, migration researcher Ruud Koopmans says the data showcases the risks of European asylum policy. Koopmans sees an urgent need for reform in order to end the deaths in the Mediterranean and the Sahara, however, irregular immigration is also dangerous for the native population of the destination countries, says the migration expert.
Koopmans writes that between 2017 and 2020, over 3,000 women fell victim to rape by one or more refugees. Most of these victims are German nationals.
The figures are also explosive in context. According to police crime statistics, there were almost 12,000 reported cases of rape and sexual assault in 2022. Of the 10,000 suspects rounded up, 6,366 were German and 3,679 non-German. Immigrants accounted for 1,155 of the suspects. This means that they are over-represented in sexual crimes, measured against their small share of the population.
However, such data does not tell the full story either, as many of those listed as Germans are also foreign nationals who obtained German citizenship or second- or third-generation immigrants.
Migrants accounted for less than 2.5 percent of the total population in 2022. They are not only over-represented in rape, but also in other violent crimes such as murder and manslaughter.
Politicians respond to rape crisis
Christian Democrat (CDU) MP Christoph de Vries, who is also a member of the Interior Committee, said: “It is obvious that the risk of women becoming victims of rape or other sexual offenses in Germany has increased significantly in recent years due to asylum migration from Arab and Maghreb countries.”
De Vries told NZZ that it is unacceptable that “women increasingly avoid public places like on Jungfernstieg in Hamburg in the evening hours because they are regularly harassed there by young refugees.” De Vries pointed his ire at the left in Germany, saying that “the Greens and the SPD, who usually raise their voices loudly for women’s quotas and gender-appropriate language, also commit themselves to protecting women at this point.”
However, despite de Vries’s tough talk, the CDU has been credited with accelerating the refugee crisis under Angela Merkel, whose government took in over 1.2 million refugees in 2015/2016.
The co-chair of the Alternative for Germany (AfD), Alice Weidel, told the NZZ that the numbers are “unbelievable” and that “behind every case there is a terrible personal fate.”
She says that women in Germany have to fear for their physical integrity due to the “politically desired waiver of control.”
The “disproportionate share of ‘refugees’ among the suspects” in crimes against sexual self-determination is “the frightening result of the irresponsible policy of open borders since 2015,” said Weidel.
Like the Federal Ministry of the Interior, the AfD co-leader is calling for the “full rigor of the rule of law” and, in addition, subsequent deportation for convicted perpetrators. The focus should not be on a “misunderstood tolerance towards foreign criminals, but on protecting our own citizens,” said Weidel.
Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser, a member of the Social Democrats (SPD), responded through a spokesmen, saying: “These acts are abhorrent. This applies regardless of the nationality of the suspects.” Each of these acts must be investigated and “punished with the full rigor of the rule of law.”
How is an immigrant defined?
The BKA uses the term “immigrants” to refer to people who have come to Germany via the asylum system. In the federal crime statistics, “immigrants” are defined as people with the residence status of “asylum seekers,” “persons entitled to protection and asylum,” asylum seekers with tolerated status, and also those who are in the country without authorization.
According to the BKA data, over 90 percent of victims of sexual offenses are female.
The data was released in the Federal Criminal Police Office’s annual report section “Crime in the context of immigration,” which has been published since 2015.
However, the numbers may be far greater, as many women who are raped never report the incident. Experts typically state that only 20 percent of all rapes are reported.
