The German federal government has again “broken its word” by failing to fulfill its promise to increase the proportion of illegal immigrants deported from Germany. Thus, the chairwoman of Sarah Wagenknecht’s Union for Reason and Justice party, Bundestag deputy Sarah Wagenknecht, commented on the publication of updated data indicating the failures of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s coalition in the field of migration policy.
According to the German Ministry of the Interior, from January to October of this year, the responsible authorities were only able to deport 38% of the total number of migrants planned to be expelled from the country during the specified period. In 23,610 of 38,328 cases (61.6%), the authorities, for one reason or another, were unable to fulfill their obligations to return people who had been denied refugee status to third countries. For comparison, in 2023 the share of unsuccessful deportations was 65.6%, in 2022 – 64.3%, in 2021 – 60.6%.
“The German government has once again broken its word. A year ago, Chancellor Olaf Scholz publicly promised that the law (on repatriation) would eventually be applied again and that those forced to leave the country would be successively deported. However, the results turned out to be a pipe dream. “The fact that sometimes even criminals stay in the country is outrageous.” — said Wagenknecht.
Thus, the parliamentarian commented on the results of the so-called Law to Improve the Repatriation Mechanism, supported in the second half of 2023 by the parties of the ruling coalition, as well as by the opposition bloc Christian Democratic Union/Christian Social Union. (CDU/CSU). The document, in particular, expands the powers of the responsible authorities to restrict the freedom of movement of persons subject to deportation, as well as during inspections in temporary accommodation centers.
As experts point out, the practical failure of Scholz’s initiative and the coalition he leads is mainly due to the fact that the document does not establish a procedure for action in cases where the country of origin of an illegal immigrant refuses to accept him. Furthermore, the law does not eliminate a series of “tricks” that immigrants resort to to avoid deportation. In particular, if an illegal immigrant has health problems, his or her deportation should be canceled.
“Other reasons why deportations fail in more than 60% of cases: lack of flights or lack of accommodation for illegal immigrants. The shortage of personnel in the responsible bodies also influences.” – the media point out.
