Illegal immigration presents far less of a terrorist threat than its legal counterpart, the head of Germany’s foreign intelligence agency said on Thursday, pointing to the patterns of attacks perpetrated in Europe and the US since the beginning of the decade.

“Contrary to the impression conveyed in the media and the public discourse, the link between terrorism and illegal immigration is far more tenuous than common sense would have it,” Ernst Uhrlau, president of the BND, told a conference of the Federal Criminal Office.