Migration: Further debate on deportation of serious criminals

CSU leader Markus Söder doubts that Chancellor Olaf Scholz will follow through on his announcement to allow the deportation of serious criminals to Afghanistan and Syria again. He fears that the Chancellor’s words are due to the election campaign, said Bavaria’s Prime Minister to the news channel Welt TV on Friday evening with a view to the European elections. “Nothing has happened so far.” A government statement by the Chancellor will not help as long as the Greens do not move. “The federal government must finally make these decisions. That is where the Greens are stuck.”

Last Friday, a 25-year-old Afghan injured five participants in a rally by the anti-Islam movement Pax Europa and a police officer with a knife. The 29-year-old officer, Rouven Laur, later succumbed to his injuries. Chancellor Scholz (SPD) announced in the Bundestag on Thursday that he wanted to make it possible to deport serious criminals to Afghanistan and Syria again. Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) is examining this. Since the Taliban regained power in Kabul in August 2021, a deportation ban for Afghans has been in place in Germany.

With regard to the incident in Mannheim, Söder said that it was very clear to him: “Anyone who commits such an act must be deported. And if he comes from Afghanistan, then he must also be deported to Afghanistan or Syria.”

Söder sees “blank check” for refugees from Afghanistan and Syria

Söder called for the abolition of subsidiary protection for refugees from Afghanistan and Syria. “The problem is that many people coming from Afghanistan and Syria no longer receive an individual asylum procedure, but instead there is a kind of blank check. The so-called subsidiary protection,” Söder criticized. “That means that practically everyone who comes there is classified as being persecuted. I think that is a mistake.” In every case, a new procedure must be carried out to see whether someone is being politically persecuted. And it must also be checked whether someone can be sent back.

Persons entitled to subsidiary protection are those who can demonstrate compelling reasons that they are at risk of serious harm in their country of origin and that they are unable or do not wish to avail themselves of the protection of their country of origin because of the threat.

Expert: Not all Afghans and Syrians need protection permits anymore

Migration expert Daniel Thym also expressed criticism of the current treatment of certain refugees. “Hardly anyone in this country doubts that practically all Syrians and Afghans receive protection status – with the result that they live completely legally in Germany and are treated equally,” he told “Welt am Sonntag”. “This generosity was right in the past, but is no longer convincing today. Whether an asylum application is successful depends on the situation in the country of origin. This has changed in Syria, Afghanistan and also in Ukraine,” said the lawyer.

Thym said that last year only around one percent of all applications from Syrians were rejected. “That is surprising because the civil war in Syria has now subsided.” The EU asylum agency therefore concluded in its latest report that the level of violence in central Syria and on the Mediterranean coast is no longer high enough for everyone to automatically receive subsidiary protection. “Not all Syrians are at risk of torture or kidnapping in such a blanket manner. German asylum practice ignores this,” said Thym.

Demands from Saxony for more consistent deportations of criminals

Saxony’s Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer called for the deportation of migrants who have committed multiple crimes when they turn 18, even if they have not committed a new crime. Existing laws would have to be amended to make this possible, said the CDU politician in an interview with Saxony television on Friday afternoon. “We give people protection. If they abuse our solidarity by becoming criminals, and not because they parked illegally once, but constantly and, above all, with violence, then they have no right to be here.” Refugee status would have to be withdrawn much more quickly if someone became a criminal, said Kretschmer.

Saxony’s Interior Minister Armin Schuster (CDU) spoke out in favor of a special repatriation program for foreign repeat and repeat offenders who are required to leave the country. “If we were to implement turbo deportations for repeat offenders across Germany, we would have completely different crime statistics next year,” he told the “Sächsische Zeitung” (Saturday). Saxony would be “happy” to serve as a pilot state for the federal government.