Angry letter: Green Party members protest against migration policy

A deportation flight to Afghanistan, a planned security package and increased border controls: In a heated debate on migration, the government made up of the SPD, FDP and Greens is trying to demonstrate its ability to act. But resistance to this course is now emerging at the grassroots level of the Greens.

“Instead of putting humanity and human rights first, Germany is increasingly relying on isolation, fences and even agreements with authoritarian regimes that trample on the dignity of those seeking protection,” it says. This contradicts the values ​​of human rights that the party has always upheld.

Since the letter was published on Tuesday, more than 1,300 party members have signed it. The signatories complain that after the Islamist attack in Solingen, the focus is not on combating Islamism, but instead on promoting deportations as a “panacea.” The course taken is fighting refugees and ultimately strengthening the Islamists, the letter says.

For many Greens, migration is not just an issue

In recent years, the Greens in government have supported numerous tightenings in asylum policy, with some MPs suffering great pain. Since the Islamist attack in Solingen, in which three people died, the debate has reached a new intensity.

Shortly afterwards, Germany deported criminals to Afghanistan for the first time since the Taliban seized power. The cabinet agreed on a security package with stricter rules, which will be introduced to the Bundestag on Thursday. And the government invited the Union and state representatives to a migration summit to discuss rejections at the border.

It seems that the top Greens want to counteract at all costs the impression that they are preventing decisive action on the issue. It was almost to be expected that many Green members would be disappointed by this. For many of them, migration is not just an issue. Numerous people joined the party in the wake of the refugee crisis, some of them were themselves active in refugee rescue.

Co-initiator sees “cynical race to inhumanity”

Enad Altaweel, spokesman for diversity and anti-discrimination for the Berlin Greens, grew up in Syria and co-initiated the letter. “In the current debate, many people want to make us believe that depriving those in need of protection of their rights could solve all problems,” says the 27-year-old. “But that is nothing other than a cynical race to inhumanity.”

The letter therefore calls for a halt to deportations to Afghanistan and Syria and a return “to an asylum policy that focuses on protection and integration, rather than isolation and criminalization.” The party’s own leadership is accused of not doing anything to counteract a shift to the right in society. Instead, they are following a discourse “that is against people’s safety.” They expect that the “principles on which our party is based will be consistently defended in government work.”

The Greens are facing sensitive debates. Dresden city councillor Susanne Krause is clear on Platform X: “If we – if YOU! – don’t get our act together and go back to being a party that upholds human rights and civil liberties, you will soon lose me.” It is an unmistakable threat.