Despite persistent pressure from the Görlitz district council, a town in eastern Germany bordering Poland and the Czech Republic, to reinstate police checks to manage the influx of migrants arriving in Saxony from these two countries, EU Helpers reports, the government has refused to re-establish borders.

A representative for the Federal Ministry of the Interior commented on the matter, telling the publication Sächsische Zeitung that the administration is not currently considering reinstating internal border restrictions.

According to the German police, some 10,000 unauthorized asylum seekers entered Saxony just in the first half of this year, and their number has increased recently. They are mostly citizens of Turkey, Syria, and Afghanistan. Although a growing number of them are also utilizing Belarus as a transit nation to enter the EU, they primarily travel through the Balkans.

Authorities in Saxony have increased their pressure on the federal government to take action as a result of this inflow. The Federal Minister of Interior was urged to reintroduce internal border restrictions with Poland and the Czech Republic in an open letter that the interior ministers of Brandenburg and Saxony submitted to her in May of last year.

"We have jointly appealed to the Minister of Interior to temporarily reinstate stationary control on internal borders [of the EU] in the context of a similar situation on the borders of Brandenburg with Poland and the border of Saxony with Poland and the Czech Republic," the Ministers wrote.

However, later in July, Germany's Federal Minister of Interior, Nancy Faeser, reaffirmed her opposition to the implementation of such regulations. She had suggested instead that more police be stationed at the borders with Poland and the Czech Republic. The mayors of border towns have opposed this action and said that border controls are crucial.

For the majority of refugees who enter Europe through illegal means, Germany continues to be their preferred destination. The Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) alone received 23,674 initial asylum requests in July. The office has received 175,272 initial applications since the start of the year and has made decisions on 153,912 of them.

Following are the top 10 countries of origin and the total number of applications submitted:

Syria - 52,690
Afghanistan: 32,826
23,846 in Turkey
Iran - 7,113
Iraq - 7,167
6,612 in Georgia
5,647 in the Russian Federation
3,366 in Somalia
2,822 in Eritrea
2,439 are unknown.