Internal security: Interior ministers discuss deportations

Following two fatal knife attacks, migration and asylum policy is the focus of the Interior Ministers’ Conference (IMK) in Potsdam. The meeting, which begins today, will also address the controversial demand to be able to deport serious criminals and Islamist threats to Syria and Afghanistan.

The chairman of the IMK, Brandenburg’s Interior Minister Michael Stübgen (CDU), demands that the federal government follow up the announcement with “facts”. Stübgen also believes that negotiations with the Taliban, who rule Afghanistan, are justifiable. In addition, security in Syria has improved, he argues. Hamburg’s Interior Senator Andy Grote (SPD) is also advocating deportations to Afghanistan and Syria.

“Anyone who commits serious crimes here must leave the country, even if they come from Afghanistan, for example,” the spokesman for the SPD-led states in the IMK told dpa. Here, Germany’s security interests outweigh the perpetrator’s interest in protecting him.

Knife attacks in Wolmirstedt and Mannheim

An Afghan was shot dead by police officers in Wolmirstedt, not far from Magdeburg. He is said to have stabbed a 23-year-old fellow countryman and then injured several people at a private European Championship garden party. In Mannheim on May 31, an Afghan injured five members of the anti-Islam movement Pax Europa and a police officer with a knife. The police officer died.

Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) subsequently announced that he wanted to make it possible to deport serious criminals and so-called threats to Afghanistan and Syria again. Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser is examining how this could work without resuming relations with the ruling Taliban in Afghanistan or the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Faeser wants to report on confidential discussions

Faeser wants to inform her colleagues in Potsdam about how far her ministry’s efforts have progressed. “We are negotiating confidentially with various states to open up ways to make deportations to Afghanistan possible again,” the SPD politician told the “Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung”.

She had previously reported on her ministry’s efforts to do so. As far as Afghanistan is concerned, there are now contacts with the authorities in Uzbekistan. The same applies to Syria: “We are talking to neighboring countries,” she says.

Saxony-Anhalt’s Interior Minister Tamara Zieschang (CDU) is calling for an immediate halt to the federal admission program for people at risk from Afghanistan. Several states are calling for tightening gun laws and expanding gun-free zones. Faeser also wants to reform gun laws again. However, some of her proposals are met with resistance from coalition partner FDP.

Refugee organizations want to demonstrate

Refugee organizations want to protest against a tightened migration policy today during the IMK in Potsdam. “Refugees need protection – not racist incitement,” they say in an appeal.

The countries are also demanding further efforts to curb irregular migration. They see Faeser as having a particular responsibility, including with regard to further agreements with countries of origin that have so far cooperated poorly or not at all in taking back citizens from Germany who are required to leave the country.

“So far, the federal government is still hesitant to deal with migration agreements with countries of origin that are really important for repatriation, such as Egypt, Ivory Coast and Gambia,” criticized Zieschang. The federal government must hold talks with these states so that they will cooperate in the future in identifying, issuing passport replacements and repatriating their citizens.

Tougher penalties demanded after attacks on politicians

During their three-day conference, the state interior ministers also want to discuss with Faeser how to deal with extremists and a possible tougher punishment for attacks on politicians. The results will be presented on Friday. As a result of increasing threats and attacks on politicians and election campaigners, interior ministers are proposing to toughen criminal law.

The Federal Ministry of Justice, however, is skeptical about this. Brandenburg’s department head Stübgen said: “If someone attacks a politician, and this includes volunteer politicians, they are attacking the entire system.” Before the European and local elections, attacks on politicians had increased. The Dresden SPD politician Matthias Ecke was brutally beaten up in May.

More investment in civil protection called for

In view of the changed threat situation since the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, strengthening civil protection is also on the IMK’s agenda. The countries stated that investment of ten billion euros over ten years is required in order to better protect the population from disasters and crises.

Bavaria’s Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann (CSU) is demanding that the federal government quickly develop a new, comprehensive concept for civil and disaster protection. The states are responsible for disaster protection, while the federal government is responsible for civil protection in the event of a defense situation.