Identity fraud in the asylum procedure: NRW introduces punishments!

Identity fraud in the asylum procedure: NRW introduces punishments!

Krefeld, Deutschland - An alarming case has attracted the attention of the German authorities: Hassan N., the alleged arsonist of a cinema in Krefeld,, like Anis Amri, the responsible assassin of the Christmas market in Berlin, has given numerous false identities. While Amri gave 14 different identities, the number of Hassan N. is over 27. These practices throw a bright light on the challenges of the authorities to recognize and combat such multiple identities.

The discussion about identity fraud is no coincidence. After Amri's attack in 2016, a lively exchange about the need to put the authorities into a position to uncover multiple identities. WDR-Investigative Journalist Manuel Gewarder reports that the authorities are now better able to check the identities of asylum seekers: "There may be different names, but the fingerprints are brought together," he explained. Despite this progress, the identity of Hassan N. remains unclear, and his Iranian passport, according to which he could be identified as a citizen, is missing. As a result, deportation to Iran is currently not possible.

New legal options for the authorities

The announcements and guidelines on these changes in the law do not seem to have achieved clear communication to the immigration authorities in North Rhine-Westphalia. At the request of the WDR after an official announcement on the part of the state government to the responsible authorities, the Ministry of Flight reacted and pointed out to the Ministry of Justice as responsible. There, reference was made to a decree that dates from 2022 and cannot take into account the new regulations, as they only came into force two years later.

improper cases and the lack of information

A central concern remains the unclear information situation regarding the application of this new legal framework. The question arose as to whether the immigration authorities were actually informed about the new punishment for identity fraud. In an interview with the WDR magazine Westpol, the NRW Minister of Flight Josefine Paul (Greens) directly showed the question of how the authorities were specifically taught. However, their argument that information on the legal framework is continuously provides doubts, however, because precise details about the innovations have so far been unclear.

It remains particularly worry that both the escape and the Ministry of Justice has so far not been able to provide any information on how many cases of identity fraud were actually pursued in NRW. According to the ministry, an evaluation of the previous convictions is only possible with disproportionate effort. This could indicate that identity fraud was not consistently pursued in the asylum procedure in the past, which means that potential security risks remain in society.

The situation throws a critical light on the efficiency of German asylum and authority systems. Despite the legislative efforts to contain the identity swing, it remains unclear whether these measures can lead to a significant time to clarify and prevention future crimes. The Hassan N. case could therefore be the initial point for further significant changes in dealing with multiple identities in the German asylum system.

For more information about this matter and the changes in the law, please visit the article on www1.wdr.de .