Initiative Christenschutz: Mr von Storch, last Christmas Cologne Cathedral and St Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna almost fell victim to Islamist attacks.

Sven von Storch: Following the Israeli retaliation in Gaza, IS has called on its supporters worldwide to kill as many Christians and Jews as possible. The planned terrorist attacks in Germany and Austria are undoubtedly the result of this call. Of course, the servile German press is concealing this connection. 

At Christmas, Cologne Cathedral is filled to capacity. The thought of how many Christians, women and children would have been killed by the IS murder squad is simply unimaginable. Instead of receiving protection and solidarity, the faithful were searched like felons at the entrance to Cologne Cathedral for the Christmas service. Germany's Christians, you and I, now have to be frisked in order to go to church. These are dystopian scenes that show the wretched state this government has dragged our country into.

Initiative Christenschutz: The churches also kept quiet when the attacks were publicised.

Sven von Storch: Of course. Because otherwise the clergy would have to publicly consider how much of a part they themselves and the church as an institution have played in the Muslim turbo-migration that has got completely out of control. The churches are not only involved, they are the driving force behind the asylum lobby. For them, borderless asylum is not a question of ethics or morality. Last year alone, the federal and state governments spent 50 billion euros on refugees and asylum. The money flows in torrents. For the church social lobby Diakonie, Caritas and Co., asylum is the business of the century.

The key instrument for them is church asylum. The actual purpose of church asylum is to provide temporary shelter and protection for particularly serious individual cases of political persecution, e.g. people like Julian Assange. However, the church has completely disregarded this mission of Christian compassion and instead turned church asylum into a hub for illegal mass immigration. The figures speak for themselves. While there were only 100 to 200 cases per year before 2015, the number of cases has literally exploded since Merkel's asylum coup. We are now talking about 2,000 cases of church asylum per year, and the trend is rising.

Initiative Christenschutz: How can something like this happen, so completely outside the control of the state?

Sven von Storch: We live in a state that tolerates mass border crossings without identity checks, and even expressly wants them. Ordinary citizens, on the other hand, are not even allowed to go fishing without authorisation. Now there are even security gates at church entrances, like at Cologne Cathedral. Some would call this the rule of injustice.

As far as church asylum is concerned, the authorities look the other way. In some districts, there is even active co-operation between churches and migration offices. The state tolerates church asylum because it fits in with its agenda of settling masses of foreigners in Germany.

Initiative Christenschutz: What exactly happens in church asylum? How does it work?

Sven von Storch: As a rule, it works like this: a migrant is accepted into church asylum and receives free board and lodging. In 90 per cent of cases, it is a Dublin case, i.e. a person without the right to stay because they have already applied for asylum in another country. If German authorities do not transfer this person to the first country of asylum within six months, the asylum procedure is transferred to Germany. This means that the migrant remains here permanently, even if they would have to be deported under current law.

After six months, the asylum seekers - now safe from deportation - leave their place. New migrants follow immediately. The demand is huge, as the churches themselves proudly admit. In breach of applicable law, the churches have prevented over 6,000 deportations since 2017 in this way. The asylum merry-go-round continues to spin faster and faster. If the authorities do take action and want to enforce a court judgement on deportation, it fails in two thirds of cases because a sudden so-called obstacle to deportation arises, such as illness or suicide risk. Pro-asylum lawyers and welfare organisations generously explain to migrants how this can be achieved.

Initiative Christenschutz: What do you suggest? How can the abuse of church asylum be stopped?

Sven von Storch: Due to the separation of church and state, the churches enjoy a special status as a public corporation. That is why they have been and still are able to get away with their practice of church asylum without the authorities intervening. Nevertheless, the interior ministers tolerate a never-ending disregard for law and order by the churches. Against the background of an almost unmanageable emergency situation for overburdened local authorities, for our social and health system and for the security of German citizens, the breach of the law in church asylum must finally be ended by the interior ministers and church asylum put back on its feet.

Initiative Christenschutz: Mr von Storch, thank you for the interview.