Migration: Pro Asyl: Legal package for deportations is “actionism”

The refugee protection organization Pro Asyl has questioned the usefulness of Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser’s legislative package for more effective deportations. Pro Asyl is very critical of the law, said the head of the organization’s European department, Karl Kopp, to the editorial network Germany (RND). “We fear that the deportations will be brutalized. And there will be no relief for the municipalities. This form of activism tends to serve a discourse filled with resentment.”

Faeser had previously announced that she would introduce a “comprehensive legislative package for more and faster returns” to the cabinet tomorrow. The SPD politician had already presented the plans in mid-October. According to the draft at the time, which was still being voted on within the government at the time, the maximum duration of immigration detention should be extended from 10 to 28 days. This gave the authorities more time to prepare for a deportation. The expulsion of smugglers should also be made easier.

However, migration expert Gerald Knaus expects only a limited effect of the planned extension of immigration detention. “This has always been possible under EU law. It is a small reform that can help in some cases,” Knaus told the “Tagesspiegel”. To ensure that fewer people who do not need protection make their way to Europe in the future, the Federal Government also needs to establish migration partnerships with countries such as Iraq or Nigeria.

Pro Asyl also criticized the short deadline for comments on the draft law. “The associations only had 48 hours to comment,” Popp told the RND. “This is absurd with such a complex law.”