Even as German authorities shut down press outlets critical of mass immigration, the country has never seen so much crime from foreigners, with the share of foreign crime hitting a record high in 2023. To exemplify this trend, the case of the small town of Apolda in the eastern German state of Thuringia highlights one of the most extreme cases in the entire country. There, a Moroccan asylum seeker has been terrorizing the small town for nearly 10 years, with local authorities seemingly powerless to stop the mayhem.
The 42-year-old Moroccan migrant has had his asylum application rejected numerous times and despite committing crimes nearly non-stop, attempts to deport him have been unsuccessful, as the Moroccan government refuses to accept him back despite German authorities confirming his identity. Born in Casablanca in 1982, the man is known to Interpol for various crimes, but Moroccan authorities deny that he is their citizen.
The man’s asylum application was already rejected in 2014 since he entered Germany through Italy. At that time, he was supposed to be sent back to Italy under Dublin rules, which posited that migrants are supposed to remain in the first country they register; however, for millions of migrants, these rules were completely disregarded. In April 2015, authorities finally managed to send him back to Italy, but just four days later, he made his way back to Germany despite having a five-year residence and entry ban.
Charged with 46 crimes
Upon his return, he was arrested numerous times for resisting arrest, assault, property damage, and threats. The police launched 46 cases against him, and in 2016, a regional court in Erfurt sentenced him to 23 months in prison.
While imprisoned, he submitted an unsuccessful asylum application, and in 2017, authorities issued an order that he must be “forcibly required to leave the country.” However, upon being released from prison in July 2017, he attacked yet another police officer in his newly assigned asylum center and was arrested for a drug offense.
Charged with 50 more crimes
It gets much worse from there. In April 2019, he was imprisoned once again after committing 50 additional crimes, including physical assault, theft, trespassing, multiple fraudulent benefits claims, resisting arrest, and property damage. At this point, he had close to over 100 crimes since arriving in Germany, but that would be far from the end of his criminal record.
At this point, even other migrants were growing tired of the Moroccan, and residents in his own asylum accommodation began a petition to have the man removed, which was signed by over 146 residents and employees in November 2019.
Once the man was released from prison, he immediately began committing more crimes in the autumn of 2022 and was arrested in July 2023 for bodily harm, for which he was imprisoned again until May of this year. Upon returning from prison to his asylum accommodation, he threatened the residents, insulted police officers, and the next day, demanded cash from the district office in an “extremely aggressive” manner and then spat at officers.
No help from above
Local authorities have gotten so desperate that they are appealing to state Prime Minister Bodo Ramelow for help, with district administrator Christiane Schmidt-Rose (CDU) of the Thuringian district of Weimarer Land and Apolda Mayor Olaf Müller (CDU) writing a letter to Ramelow, where they detailed the extreme nature of the asylum seeker’s crimes.
“These recent incidents have once again made it clear that the offender in question cannot be controlled,” reads the letter. The letter notes that most recently, at the end of July, after being released from prison, he triggered four police operations within 24 hours and officers had to arrest him using force after the fourth operation.
Notably, the officials who wrote the letter are not asking that the man be deported, which is not possible in Germany due to various laws, including Morocco’s refusal to take the man back. Instead, they want to pass the problem on to someone else. They are requesting concrete action from the state prime minister and that the offender to be placed in another district or city.