Is German Immigration Policy Starting to Turn?

It looks like Germany’s immigration policies are starting to be addressed...kind of.

So far in 2016 (despite what Angela Merkel’s open boarder rhetoric might indicate), Germany has denied access to 13,000 would-be migrants, according to a report by the Jerusalem Post. That’s 4,000 more immigration denials than were handed out during the entire year of 2015.

This report comes at a time when immigration to Germany has already dramatically decreased. Anti-immigration measures in Balkan states and Greece have toggled immigration to Germany through the east, and the majority of immigrants now travel from the south through Italy at a much slower rate. About 4,500 immigrants arrived in Germany this July, less than half of the daily arrivals last fall. 

Even with the drop in migrant entries, German immigration security is actually becoming significantly more stringent. It's not a perfect fix, though.

More austere immigration policy is a step in the right direction. But despite the restrictions, Germany still has relatively open borders, granting 122,000 migrants asylum this year to date. Germany currently hosts over 500,000 Middle Eastern migrants, and must also now address infrastructural problems caused by the immigration crisis.

The real question now is: are these measures too little, too late?