German Domestic Intelligence Wants To Monitor More Migrants For Terror Links

Both the conservative Christian Social Union (CSU) and the German domestic intelligence agency want to see more observation of migrants for terror links after the failed bomb plot in Chemnitz.

Migrants who have either plotted or have carried out terror attacks in Germany are rising rapidly. The Bavarian CSU, sister party of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU), are now pushing for more measures to be taken against radical Islamism among migrants.

Hans-Georg Maassen, the head of the German domestic intelligence agency agrees, saying: “The task of the intelligence services is to make an unclear situation a clear position… Any information from any database is, therefore, helpful”, reports N-TV. 

After the arrest of the Syrian migrant who plotted  a bombing in the German city of Chemnitz, the leader of the CSU Horst Seehofer called for a review of all migrants in Germany for potential terror links.

Ansgar Heveling, chairman of the Interior Committee of the Bundestag, also wants to grant police and domestic services additional powers to monitor internet connections and communication apps like WhatsApp which Islamic State use to communicate. He affirmed it was not acceptable that the domestic intelligence services shouldn’t have the same access to migrants’ information that police or other authorities have.

Many left-wing political figures in Germany are against the intelligence services monitoring migrants. North Rhine-Westphalia Interior Minister Ralf Jäger, of the Social Democrats (SPD), said: “It would be wrong to place hundreds of thousands of people under suspicion who have fled war and terror to Germany.”

Ulla Jelpke of the Left party is also against the proposal saying: “The call for an expansion of secret powers is completely out of place.” Ms. Jelpke has been vehemently pro-migrant over the course of the migrant crisis and condemned attempts by the government to restrict the number of migrants coming into the country.

The move to include the domestic intelligence services may be welcomed by some police forces who say that too much of their resources are being tied up in the observation of Islamic radicals.

Police in the special MEK unit complained that the resources devoted to Islamism were taking away from their traditional work against organised crime. One official said that, as a result, criminals were increasingly able to evade arrest and punishment.