Refugee arrivals in Germany fall to new low in April

Germany has recorded a new low in asylum seeker arrivals in April, official data showed on Monday.

Some 16,000 migrants arrived in Germany in April, down almost a quarter from 20,000 in March, and nearly a 90-percent plunge from December when 120,000 arrivals were recorded, according to the German Interior Ministry.

Syrians made up the biggest group of newcomers, with 2,724 applicants in the month. Afghans were the second largest group with 2,063 migrants, followed by Iraqis with 1,853 arrivals.

April is the fifth consecutive month that has seen a decline in the number of refugees arriving in Germany after the closure of the popular route used by refugees through the Balkans.

The number of asylum applications, which are usually officially submitted by asylum seekers several months after their first registration, was 60,943, which is slightly higher than in March.

Germany took in more than one million refugees in 2015, with the flow accelerating after Chancellor Angela Merkel in September suspended normal European Union asylum rules to grant safe haven to people fleeing the war in Syria.

The mass influx sparked a backlash in Germany -- which has since reintroduced temporary border controls and taken other steps to contain influx of new migrants -- and in eastern Europe, where several Balkan countries in March shut their borders to refugees flocking in from Greece.

The EU has also agreed on a controversial agreement with Turkey in March to stop refugees crossing by boat to Greece.

Under the deal, Turkey has agreed to take back new migrants who arrived in Greece after March 20 and whose asylum applications were rejected. In return, Europe has pledged that for every Syrian returned, it will accept one Syrian refugee from Turkey's vast camps, a move it hopes will discourage people from taking the highly risky journey across the Aegean sea. Endit