The number of people with an immigrant background in Germany has jumped to a record high of 18.6 million — but voters may not care as the country prepares to go to the polls.
The figures released by the Federal Statistics Office Tuesday are unlikely to affect next month’s election, according to a leading German political analyst.
The statistics reveal that just over a fifth of the population — 22.5 percent — are first or second generation immigrants with at least one parent born without German citizenship, and that around 2.3 million people in Germany have family ties to the Middle East, as reported by Reuters.
The release of the figures comes just under eight weeks before national elections on Sept. 24, with Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Social Democratic challenger warning against a repeat of 2015, when she opened the borders to hundreds of thousands of migrants.
But while such figures might cause consternation in the UK or France, Dr. Charlotte Galpin, deputy director of the Institute for German Studies at Birmingham University, claims any impact they have on Merkel’s chances of re-election will likely be minimal.
“These figures are definitely getting news coverage but I’m not sure how much they will change the result of the election,” Dr. Galpin told Arab News.
“It’s well known that in 2015 Angela Merkel allowed one million refugees to enter Germany, so in effect these figures are simply putting a number on information people already have.
“There is a concern about immigration in Germany and so these figures could gain traction. But Merkel’s CDU party has recovered its popularity (since the refugee influx) and is at about 40 percent in the polls. The far-right group, the AfD, has collapsed in popularity so it’s not in a great position to capitalize on any negative sentiment surrounding these figures.”
The issue of immigration has proved to be a toxic one for many European countries and their politicians over the past few years. In Germany, however, while still an issue, the discussion about immigration does not tend to travel down the populist path.
“It’s not as toxic an issue as it has become in the UK. One of the reasons for this is the responsible media system in the country,” Dr. Galpin added.
“The media were broadly behind the ‘welcome culture’ toward the refugees and has generally been supportive of the refugee policy.
“There is far less populism around the issue in Germany. Merkel is not a populist and has always governed from the center.
“That’s not to say it won’t be an issue and the CDU will worry about it in the election but I think we’ll see tougher rhetoric on the issue of asylum seekers who have had their applications turned down, rather than the broader issue of immigration.”
Record German immigrant background population ‘unlikely’ to sway poll outcome
Record German immigrant background population ‘unlikely’ to sway poll outcome
Huge cache of Epstein documents includes emails financier exchanged with wealthy and powerful
- The documents were disclosed under the Epstein Files Transparency Act
- “Today’s release marks the end of a very comprehensive document identification and review process to ensure transparency to the American people,” Blanche said
WASHINGTON: A huge new tranche of files on millionaire financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein released Friday revealed details of his communications with the wealthy and powerful, some not long before he died by suicide in 2019.
The Justice Department said it was disclosing more than 3 million pages of documents, as well as thousands of videos and photos, as required by a law passed by Congress. By Friday evening, more than 600,000 documents had been published online. Millions of files that prosecutors had identified as potentially subject to release under the law remain under wraps, however, drawing criticism from Democrats.
Here's what we know so far about the files now being reviewed by a team of Associated Press reporters:
Epstein talked politics with Steve Bannon and an ex-Obama official
The documents show Epstein exchanged hundreds of friendly texts with Steve Bannon, a top adviser to President Donald Trump, some months before Epstein's death.
They discussed politics, travel and a documentary Bannon was said to be planning that would help salvage Epstein's reputation.
In March 2019, Bannon asked Epstein if he could supply his plane to pick him up in Rome.
A couple of months later, Epstein messaged to Bannon, “Now you can understand why trump wakes up in the middle of the night sweating when he hears you and I are friends.”
The context is unclear from the documents, which were released with many redactions and little clear organization.
Another 2018 exchange focused on Trump’s threats at the time to oust Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, whom he had named to the post just the year prior.
Around the same time, Epstein also communicated with Kathy Ruemmler, a lawyer and former Obama White House official. In a typo-filled email, he warned that Democrats should stop demonizing Trump as a Mafia-type figure even as he derided the president as a “maniac.”
Bannon did not immediately respond to a message from the AP seeking comment. Ruemmler said through a spokesperson she was associated with Epstein professionally during her time as a lawyer in private practice and now “regrets ever knowing him.”
He also chatted with Elon Musk and Howard Lutnick about island visits
Billionaire Tesla founder Elon Musk e-mailed Epstein in 2012 and 2013 about visiting his infamous island compound, the scene of many allegations of sexual abuse.
Epstein inquired in an email about how many people Musk would like flown by helicopter, and Musk responded that it would likely be just him and his partner at the time. “What day/night will be the wildest party on =our island?” he wrote, according to the Justice Department records.
It’s not immediately clear if the island visits took place. Spokespersons for Musk’s companies, Tesla and X, didn’t immediately respond to emails seeking comment Friday.
Musk has maintained that he repeatedly turned down the disgraced financier’s overtures. “Epstein tried to get me to go to his island and I REFUSED,” he posted on X in 2025
Epstein also invited Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to the island in Dec. 2012. Lutnick's wife enthusiastically accepted the invitation and said they would arrive on a yacht with their children. The two also had drinks on another occasion in 2011, according to a schedule. Six years later, they e-mailed about the construction of a building across the street from both of their homes.
Lutnick has distanced himself from Epstein, calling him “gross” and saying in 2025 that he cut ties decades ago. He didn’t respond to an e-mailed request for comment on Friday afternoon.
The records also have new details on Epstein's incarceration and suicide
Epstein was arrested on federal sex trafficking charges in July 2019, and found dead in his cell just over a month later.
The latest batch of documents includes emails between investigators about Epstein’s death, including an investigator's observation that his final communication doesn't look like a suicide note. Multiple investigations have determined that Epstein's death was a suicide.
The records also detail a trick that jail staffers used to fool the media gathered outside while Epstein’s body was removed: they used boxes and sheets to create what appeared to be a body and loaded it into a white van labeled as belonging to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.
The reporters followed the van when it left the jail, not knowing that Epstein’s actual body was loaded into a black vehicle, which departed “unnoticed,” according to the interview notes.
