BERLIN (AP) — Some 222,000 asylum-seekers arrived in Germany in the first half of this year, the government said Friday — reflecting a much-reduced influx after the route through the Balkans was largely blocked and the European Union cut a deal with Turkey to cut arrivals by sea. De Maiziere pointed to central European countries' squeeze on the overland Balkan route and the EU-Turkey deal to reduce migrant landings in Greece as the main factors in the drop. The minister said that, while the Balkan route is now closed to large groups of people, smugglers are getting small groups across borders.
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