German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has sparked intense domestic criticism following his recent remarks in the Bundestag, where he drew a direct connection between immigration and rising violent crime rates. The controversy erupted on Wednesday when Merz, responding to a parliamentary question concerning sexualized violence against women, pointed to migrants as a primary source of the problem.
"We are experiencing exploding violence in our society, both in the analog and digital spheres," Merz stated to lawmakers. He further asserted that the country must acknowledge that "a considerable portion of this violence comes to the Federal Republic of Germany from immigrant groups."
The Chancellor's framing immediately drew outrage from political opponents and advocacy groups, particularly because he used a question about violence against women to pivot to immigration policy. Clara Bünger, a lawmaker from the Left Party, sharply rebuked Merz during a Thursday debate on image-based sexual abuse. "This violence did not immigrate, it has always been here—all women in this country know that," Bünger declared.
The Turkish Community in Germany (TGD) also issued a forceful condemnation. TGD Chairwoman Mehtap Caglar told the dpa news agency that Merz's comments revealed an agenda of "political instrumentalization" rather than a genuine commitment to protecting women. "Anyone who only addresses violence when it can be attributed to migrants abandons every single woman in Germany who needs protection from patriarchal violence—regardless of where the perpetrator comes from," Caglar emphasized.
While Merz's political framing is highly contested, crime data does show a shifting demographic among suspects. According to the 2024 Police Crime Statistics (PKS), the number of non-German suspects involved in violent crimes increased by 7.5 percent, whereas the number of German suspects remained largely stagnant. Overall, authorities recorded 217,000 incidents of violent crime during that period, encompassing a wide range of offenses from assault and robbery to rape and murder. Updated figures from the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) are expected to be released in mid-April.
Despite the statistical increase in non-German suspects, law enforcement leaders and criminologists caution against using the misleading term "foreigner crime." BKA President Holger Münch has previously clarified that the rise in incidents is not driven by nationality. "It is not due to origin, but to the concentration of risk factors," Münch explained.
According to the BKA chief, these risk factors include severe psychological stress, childhood exposure to violence, and the often dismal living conditions faced by refugees, who are frequently housed in mass accommodations and restricted from working. Susann Prätor, a researcher at the Lower Saxony Police Academy who presented similar findings in 2025, corroborated this view. She concluded that rising violent crime is ultimately tied to "the conditions under which people live in Germany," rather than their citizenship.
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