German conservatives call for tougher migrant age checks

Bavaria’s interior minister, Joachim Herrmann, has called for checking the ages of all incoming asylum-seekers “who are not clearly recognizable as children.” Other conservatives also back age tests. (Photo by Gerd Seidel (Rob Irgendwer) – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0)

BERLIN — Conservative politicians in Germany are calling for tougher age checks on young migrants amid doubts over the age of an Afghan asylum-seeker suspected of fatally stabbing a 15-year-old girl.

However, the chairman of the German Medical Association questioned the idea Tuesday, arguing that medical tests are laborious, costly and of dubious effectiveness. Frank Ulrich Montgomery said he opposes the idea of obligatory age tests, telling the daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung they would be “an interference in people’s well-being” if performed on all migrants.

Bavaria’s interior minister, Joachim Herrmann, has called for checking the ages of all incoming asylum-seekers “who are not clearly recognizable as children.” Other conservatives also back age tests.

The suspect in last week’s killing arrived as an unaccompanied minor in 2016 and was registered as being 15 years old.