The plan is for the controls to last six months, but practice has shown that once such measures are introduced, they do not stop quickly. The police have been controlling the borders with Poland, the Czech Republic and Switzerland since October last year, while they have been on the border with Austria since 2015, reports DPA.

From tonight until midnight, police officers control the borders with Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. Controls are also expected to be introduced in the north, on the border with Denmark.

Travelers and people who cross the border every day to go to work, the authorities promise, will not have to wait too long. Controls are random – not all vehicles stop.

Until now, the police controlled the borders with Poland, the Czech Republic, Austria, Switzerland, and more recently with France because of this year's Olympic Games in Paris.

Home Secretary Nancy Feather said on Sunday evening that the measures were "urgently needed to further reduce irregular migration".

Last week, she ordered that from today there will be controls at all land borders.

Since October last year, according to the German Interior Ministry, there have been more than 30.000 returns from the borders. Migrants who have not applied for asylum and those who have been denied entry to Germany, for example because of crime, are currently being returned.

A demand by the Christian Democrats caucus, the leading opposition party, for a more comprehensive return of people was rejected by the ruling coalition over legal concerns over European Union regulations.

Germany's neighbors such as Austria and Poland have expressed concern about the expansion of border controls.

"Everyone knows that we are working within the framework of European law, but we are making the most of our opportunities," said Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Sunday evening. Everyone understands that the number of those coming to Germany is too high and therefore it is in the interest of the German government to solve this problem by managing irregular migration well, he added.

According to the Schengen Agreement, such controls are basically not foreseen. However, other Schengen countries also control their land borders, justifying it by limiting irregular migration, the threat of Islamic terrorism or the risks of Russian aggression against Ukraine.