A decline in refugees in Hamburg: What is behind it?

A decline in refugees in Hamburg: What is behind it?

Hamburg, Deutschland - in Hamburg there was a decline in the incidental refugees at the beginning of the year. Almost 900 refugees were registered in February 2025, in January there were still 1,100. Around 250 refugees in the northern German metropolis arise per week, which corresponds to a decline of around a third compared to the same period last year. Reasons for this development are increased controls on German and internal European borders as well as an increase in deportations by the city, which has relaxed the situation.

The accommodations in Hamburg are currently very busy, with a occupancy rate of 95 percent. In some cases, refugees have to be accommodated in tents, such as in Schlachthofstraße next to the former Fegro-Halle in Neuland, where around 140 people are housed. The social authority plans to buy further tents on the Curslacker Deich and on Stapelfelder Straße. By the end of 2025, around 3,400 new places for refugees are to be created in Hamburg, so that a total of over 52,000 places are available.

migration and integration in focus

On March 2, 2025, a new citizen will be elected in Hamburg, whereby the largest parties have already formulated demands on migration and integration. A pilot project provides for a faster deportation of refugees who have come to Hamburg via other EU countries directly from Rahlstedt.

In a comprehensive discussion about the refugee situation in Hamburg, it has also been shown that the city has recorded climbs on arriving refugees since August 2023, with 1,400 newcomers in August and 1,700 in September. A survey by the Trend Research Institute showed that many Hamburgers want an upper limit for the inclusion of refugees, especially older citizens and supporters of the AfD support this claim.

The social senator Melanie Schlotzhauer and interior senator Andy Grote (both SPD) already emphasized in October that Hamburg was at the limit. The accommodation options are 97 percent busy, which also tightens the situation. Refugees have to be accommodated in tents, and the authorities are urgently looking for new accommodations. Despite these challenges, Hamburg has increased the financial resources for residential and care facilities to over 1.3 billion euros, while the support of the federal government for the city may drop from EUR 100 million to just 24 million euros.

A total of almost 1,000 refugees were deported by September 2023, which corresponds to the level of the entire year 2022. The places in the deportation can be doubled, and the staff at the responsible authorities, including the LKA and the immigration office, were also increased. Around 75 percent of the refugees coming to Germany are currently allowed to remain, with the adjusted protection rate between January and August 2023 was 71 percent, such as ndr reported. This shows that the challenges in refugee policy in Hamburg are still of great relevance and complexity, and there are many questions about migration and integration, as well as t-online.de