Herbert Kickl, Austria’s newly sworn-in interior minister, intends to beef up the country’s asylum policies to curb crime rates, local media reported Wednesday.
Speaking at a gathering of the Council of Ministers, Kickl, a member of the right-wing Freedom Party (FPÖ), said the new government would work on the speedy deportation of migrants who have been denied asylum.
Kickl referred to a 2016 security report citing an alleged rise of 13 percent in criminal acts carried out by foreigners that year, Austrian news agency APA reported Wednesday.