Following more than 70 burglaries, an 11-year-old Moroccan migrant who leads a youth gang is supposed to be moved to a secure facility. He arrived in Germany as an unaccompanied minor just last November, but has already struck terror in Hamburg and the surrounding communities with a huge number of break-ins and burglaries.
Police finally apprehended him last Thursday in the midst of a burglary spree in Norderstedt in Schleswig-Holstein, but due to his age, he cannot be held criminally liable, according to Bild newspaper.
Compounding the issue is that the far-left red-green Senate does not permit “secure” facilities within the state, but due to his extreme criminality, the boy cannot be allowed to operate freely in the standard youth migrant centers. That means he has to be transferred to another federal state, where he will then be placed in a more secure facility.
“A child who knows they cannot be prosecuted and acts cheekily and defiantly should face a clear response from the constitutional state,” Thomas Jungfer, the regional chairman of the German Police Union, criticized the government’s policy while speaking with Bild.
The boy was not acting alone, and despite his young age, was leading a group of migrant youths, including a 16-year-old Tunisian accomplice, who was also arrested, according to police.
Both youths were staying at a children’s and youth emergency shelter in Hamburg, which is notorious for requiring constant police intervention. Since the beginning of 2024, police have already responded 280 times to the location, and data from the location shows 101 assaults, 29 drug abuse cases, 30 attacks on staff members, 42 threats of violence, and 35 property damage cases.
The facility serves as Hamburg social services’ only crisis facility for minors, but it is dangerously understaffed and overcrowded, with 120 children for 102 places. While 12 positions remain open, four employees are on long-term sick leave and three others reportedly show signs of “burnout.”
Responding to a request for comment in 2023, the Hamburg Social Service stated that there are simply too many asylum seekers coming to run the facility in an efficient and safe manner, which means many are sent to other third-party providers.
“Today, 20 percent of all care cases are handled by independent providers in decentralized settings,” a spokesperson stated.