The alleged perpetrator of the Solingen attack was not known as an extremist. But he still shouldn’t have been in Germany anymore. What went wrong? And what major problems does the case reveal?
The bloody crime in Solingen has reignited old debates. Three people were killed with a knife at a town festival on Friday evening. Eight others were injured, four of them seriously. The suspect is a 26-year-old Syrian who has been in custody since Sunday evening on suspicion of membership in the terrorist group Islamic State (IS) and on suspicion of murder, among other things. What went wrong – and who is responsible?
How could the attack happen?
In principle, it is practically impossible to completely prevent attacks in public spaces – especially when it comes to individual perpetrators using everyday objects. In this specific case, the suspected perpetrator should have been deported long ago, to Bulgaria, where he had previously been registered.
According to police, the man is Syrian. The “Spiegel” reported that the man came to Germany at the end of December 2022 and applied for asylum in Bielefeld. He was therefore not known to the security authorities as an Islamist extremist. This information was confirmed to the German Press Agency.
An attempt to deport him failed when officials did not find him in his accommodation. According to information from officials, there were apparently no further attempts. The 6-month deadline for deportation expired. This deadline could have been extended; if someone is considered a fugitive, it is 18 months. In such cases, the local immigration authorities are initially responsible. The ministry responsible for refugee and integration in North Rhine-Westphalia did not initially provide any information on the case when asked.
Why do authorities have such a hard time with deportations?
The number of deportations from Germany rose to 21,206 last year, up from 18,094 deportations the previous year, according to the Federal Police’s annual report presented last week. A total of 4,776 people were pushed back at the border in 2023. However, significantly more was planned, namely the pushback or repatriation of a total of 52,976 people. According to the Interior Ministry, there were 11,102 deportations from January to July, more than the 9,185 deportations in the same period last year.
There can be many reasons why deportations fail, for example missing papers. Or the police cannot find the person concerned at the scheduled time. At the beginning of the year, the Bundestag passed a law tightening measure to address some of these problems. For example, the legal maximum duration of detention pending departure was extended from 10 days to 28 days. In addition, representatives of the authorities will now be allowed to enter rooms in shared accommodation other than just the room of the person being deported.
However, there is also a lack of places for deportation detention. Last year, arrest warrants were obtained in over 300 cases to ensure return or deportation, said Federal Police President Dieter Romann last week. “But all 800 places for deportation detention were full.”
According to the Federal Chairman of the German Police Union (DPolG), Rainer Wendt, deportation procedures are too complicated and too many authorities are involved. The authority here lies largely with municipalities and states, and the Federal Police then comes into play when it comes to implementation. “The Federal Police finally needs the legal authority to carry out these deportations under their own responsibility. This also includes obtaining papers abroad and operating their own deportation detention centers,” Wendt told the German Press Agency.
What tightening measures are being discussed for knives?
If Federal Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser (SPD) has her way, knives with blades of up to six centimetres long should only be allowed to be carried in public, instead of the current twelve centimetres. There should be a general ban on dangerous switchblades. It is doubtful whether this will stop perpetrators who carry out an attack intentionally and in a planned manner. Terror expert Peter Neumann says: “But even if that were the case, assassins (…) would drive cars or trucks into crowds. And I don’t think you can just ban cars like that.”
Can Germany control who comes into the country?
Only to a limited extent. There have been border controls with Poland, the Czech Republic and Switzerland since mid-October last year. There have been controls at the Austrian border since September 2015. But they are only sporadic. Faeser and Federal Police President Romann praise the controls as a success and point to the arrest of people smugglers, among other things. People are also being turned away at the border. The number of illegal entries has recently fallen.
But anyone who wants to apply for asylum is generally allowed into the country. And if someone is sent back, it is questionable whether he or she will not simply enter the country later or at another location. Union parliamentary group vice-chairman Jens Spahn (CDU) told the “Rheinische Post”: “The German borders must be closed to irregular migration.” The question then would be how exactly.
In any case, Faeser wants to maintain border controls until significantly fewer people enter Europe illegally. Germany takes in many more migrants than other countries, which is unfair. “I am no longer prepared to accept this distribution of numbers within Europe,” she said last week. In Berlin, people are also hoping for the effect of the recently tightened European asylum rules – but they must first be implemented.
Media Service Integration on deportations Neumann at “Bild” Federal Office for Migration and Refugees on the Dublin procedure
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.
