High Costs

This Is Where Most of the Empty Refugee Shelters Are

The old vocational school in Braunau has now been in a deep slumber for two years.(Bild: Pressefoto Scharinger/Daniel Scharinger)

The influx of refugees has almost completely dried up, yet there are still 15 federal asylum shelters held in reserve—meaning they stand empty. One state alone has five of them. But of course, this “reserve capacity” also costs money. Here’s a quick example of how such an investment can pay off.

 

Human smuggling is a nearly defunct industry: From January through May, only 200 illegal refugees were apprehended. In 2023, the figure for the same period was still 7,200. In all of 2015, there were nearly 51,000 people smuggled across the border and more than 700,000 illegal entries. However, a great deal of capacity for refugee care remains from that time.