The German Government has approved a bill to facilitate the deportation of all illegal immigrants living in the country to alleviate the strong migratory pressure to which city councils are subject. Chancellor Olaf Scholz wants “large-scale” expulsions to be able to better serve those who do need shelter and 1.5 million have arrived from Ukraine alone since the beginning of the war. The bill, if implemented, would affect about 30,000 people, so its impact is symbolic. Rather, it seems like a tourniquet to the bleeding of votes that the parties in the government coalition – Social Democrats, Liberals and Greens – suffered in the last regional elections. The only issue that explained the setback in Bavaria and Hesse of the tripartite and the impressive rise of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) was migration.
“Out of pure panic, the demands of the AfD are now adopted, of course,” was the first reaction of the leader of that parliamentary group, Alice Weidel. From the ideological antipodes, the leader of the Left Party, Janine Wissler, wrote in X. that “instead of joining the chorus of the right, the chancellor should guarantee more affordable housing, more money for municipalities and fewer restrictions on work. Criticism also came from the ranks of the coalition, with Green politician Jürgen Trittin writing in “.
The Law to Improve Repatriation, which is what the law will be called when it passes the parliamentary filter, could fit into the Government coalition agreements signed two years ago, although then they only talked about convicted or potentially dangerous illegals. It could be said that the bill puts into practice the agreement reached in May between the federal states and Chancellor Olaf Scholz if what the “Länder” had asked for was to reduce migratory pressure by expelling illegal immigrants and not more funding to face the social burden. and economic crisis caused by the care of millions of refugees and asylum seekers.
The objective of the bill goes in another direction: to reduce the number of deportations that fail in the short term and are four out of five. To this end, the maximum duration of the so-called “Ausreisegewahrsam” (police custody pending departure) will be extended from 10 to 28 days. The rule will also grant more powers to the police to search collective accommodation without prior notice and detainees will not be notified of the deportation so that they cannot escape or change their address. Furthermore, the one-month notice requirement for deportations after a tolerance period of at least one year of “tolerance” should be abolished. Exceptions are made for families with children under 12 years of age.
The concept of “tolerance” is key because there are nearly 250,000 people out of the 279,098, who, as of June 30, were forced to leave Germany due to being in an irregular situation and that includes rejected asylum applications, expiration of permits for work or students and tourists who decide to stay in the country. Reasons for being “tolerated” include illness, unjustifiable separation from family, security situation in the country of origin, lack of passport or direct air routes. Therefore there are about 30,000 left.
The pressure will be on the police and the force’s majority union has turned the tables on politics. More expulsions mean more staff and the Minister of Finance, the liberal Christian Lidner, already rejected an increase in the number of repatriation officials in the spring. The police union has therefore urged the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to implement readmission agreements with the main countries of origin of rejected asylum seekers and to also conclude agreements with third and transit countries for the reception, in particular, of dangerous people. expelled and multiple and intensive offenders if they cannot be deported to their country of origin. And, in parallel, the responsible states must also create more places of detention pending deportation and, finally, start creating detention centers for repatriation, mainly near airports, because otherwise the detention periods will be longer. long will come to nothing.
Migration researcher Ruud Koopmans of Berlin’s Humboldt University believes the bill will be ineffective. “Deportations end up failing not because of the length of the procedures, but because of lack of papers, unclear identities, uncooperative countries of origin and, last but not least, judicial decisions that block a deportation.” Therefore, “the only really effective way is to ensure that people who do not need protection do not come to Europe and this can only be achieved by outsourcing asylum procedures to third countries.”
