“We finally have to deport those who have no right to stay in Germany on a large scale,” explained Chancellor Scholz in “Spiegel”. But will the government’s plans really lead to this?
The federal government wants to enable more deportations with longer exit detention, more powers for authorities and tougher action against smugglers. “Only if it can be ensured that those who are legally obliged to leave our country actually leave our country, will Germany have the opportunity to continue to accept those people who need our protection,” says the draft law that the cabinet is supposed to pass in Berlin today. The Bundestag will further change and finally decide on the plans.
The project aims to reduce obstacles to deportations in Germany – but it will still not be possible without the willingness of the target countries to cooperate.
What does the federal government want to change?
The maximum duration of exit detention is to be extended from the current ten to 28 days, which should give the authorities more time to prepare. In the future, when searching for deportees in shared accommodation, government officials will also be allowed to enter the premises of third parties if they have reasons to suspect that the person they are looking for is there.
Those in custody who are required to leave the country should no longer be notified of their deportation. The current one-month notice requirement for deportations after at least one year of toleration should also be abolished. Exceptions are planned for families with children under 12 years old.
Members of criminal organizations should be able to be expelled more easily in the future. Apartments should be allowed to be searched for data carriers and documents in order to clarify the identity and nationality of those affected. Expulsion should be made easier for smugglers who have been sentenced to at least one year in prison. The smuggling of children should also become a criminal offense.
In order to reduce the burden on the authorities, stays in the asylum procedure should be approved for six months instead of the current three months. Other groups should also be permitted to stay for longer periods of time.
Why is someone deported?
People can be deported if they are obliged to leave the country. According to the law, the prerequisite is that they are not threatened with serious harm in the destination country. Reasons such as illness can also prevent deportation.
The authorities initially set a deadline for foreigners without a residence permit to leave the country voluntarily. If this expires, deportation may occur. Deportees are not allowed to re-enter for a limited period of time. They must bear the costs of repatriation themselves.
How many deportations have there been from Germany recently?
According to information from the federal government to the left-wing faction, there were a total of 7,861 deportations from Germany between January and June of this year. According to information from last year, there were 6,198 deportations in the same period last year.
Most people were most recently deported to Austria, followed by Georgia and North Macedonia. The deportations to Austria are likely to involve people who have to go through their asylum procedure because of a previous stay there. Most of those deported in the first half of the year were citizens of Georgia, followed by North Macedonia and Afghanistan. The majority of deportations take place by plane.
How many people in Germany are required to leave the country?
As of June 30, a total of 279,098 people in Germany were required to leave the country – but only a fraction of them are potentially at risk of deportation. Because 224,768 of these people have a so-called toleration, as can be seen from the government’s information to the left-wing faction.
Tolerated people are people who are obliged to leave the country but are not deported for certain reasons. This could be because they do not have any identification documents, are sick or have a minor child who has a residence permit.
Not all those forced to leave the country are rejected asylum seekers. For example, someone may be required to leave the country because their visa is expiring. As of the end of June, there were 13,784 rejected asylum seekers without toleration in Germany.
Why do deportations fail?
There are many reasons for this, and not all of them have direct influence on politics and authorities in Germany. Travel or identification documents may be missing. There is often a lack of willingness to cooperate in the target countries, where overly willing cooperation in this area would not necessarily be popular. In order to improve this, the federal government is trying to reach migration agreements with countries of origin, which should also be given the opportunity to legally immigrate their citizens.
With her proposals, which are based on an agreement between the federal and state governments from May, Faeser wants to make it easier to carry out deportations, at least on the German side. However, according to figures from the Integration Media Service, stricter laws in the past have not noticeably led to an increase in the number of deportations.
The SPD, Greens and FDP have already announced in their coalition agreement: “We are launching a repatriation offensive in order to implement departures more consistently, in particular the deportation of criminals and those at risk.” In addition, the federal government will provide more support to the states with deportations in the future.
How does it go from here?
The Bundestag will deal with the plans – which is unlikely to be a sure-fire success even after the Cabinet has approved it. The Green MP Filiz Polat criticized “disproportionate interference with the fundamental rights to freedom, inviolability of the home and the privacy of those affected”. She announced that her group wanted to “address the constitutional and European law concerns.” For the AfD, on the other hand, the plan does not go far enough: the federal government continues to “lure” migrants “to immigrate into the German social systems,” explained party leader Alice Weidel.
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
