The German Government tightens the deportation rules for Asylum seekers. The cabinet approved a legislative package on 26 October 2023. The government also plans to expand the rights of the police and restrict those of migrants. 255,000 people are required to leave Germany as they have been denied their Asylum application and are currently in hold of Duldung status. Following different changes have been announced as a part of the new legislation:
- The deportations no longer have to be announced;
- those required to leave the country can be held in custody for a longer period;
- the police will in the future be allowed to enter the homes of third parties if they suspect the person they are looking for is there (Currently, deportations are usually announced a month in advance. The police do not reveal the exact time, otherwise there is a risk that the person will go into hiding).
What is government planning?
According to government sources, the Federal Cabinet has approved a corresponding package of measures presented by Interior Minister Nancy Faeser. Among other things, this provides for the maximum duration of so-called exit custody to be extended from the current ten to 28 days. This is intended to prevent those to be deported from going into hiding before being returned. The police and authorities should be given more enforcement rights in the deportation process. For example, in shared accommodation, they should also be allowed to search for people who are obliged to leave the country in the rooms of roommates. In addition, deportations of previously tolerated people should no longer be announced in advance, except for families with children under the age of twelve. Tougher action should also be taken against smugglers.
Current deportation statistics
Both Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Faeser had emphasized that deportations had to be accelerated. The measures are part of a migration package that was agreed upon within the traffic light coalition. It also includes opportunities for refugees to be able to work more quickly. In the first half of this year, 279,098 people who were required to leave the country lived in Germany. At the end of September, according to the Federal Ministry of the Interior, there were 255,000. Of these, around 205,000 had a tolerated stay and cannot currently be deported. According to the ministry, there were around 12,000 deportations this year by the end of September.
EU backs faster deportations
EU Interior Commissioner Ylva Johansson is pushing the pace: With 400,000 return decisions this year, only 65,000 migrants would leave the EU, she says. Efforts must therefore be increased to send people back to their home countries. The return directive is part of the overall package of the planned EU asylum reform and is the only one of ten legal texts for which so-called trilogue negotiations have not yet begun between Parliament, the Member States, and the Commission.
The EU parliamentarians have not yet been able to agree on a common position. Commission Vice-President Margaritis Schinas is annoyed by this: “We expect the European Parliament to quickly come to an agreement on this,” he says. It must be possible to quickly deport people who pose a security risk. This is also “a final important piece of the puzzle” in the fight against terrorism. “And I think now is the time to do that.”However, it is not only controversial among EU MPs as to how a “threat” should be defined or to what extent the planned directive should make it more difficult to take legal action against a deportation. There is still a need for discussion, says FDP European Parliamentarian Jan-Christoph Oetjen. What is clear, however, is that returns are a fundamental part of the new asylum and migration pact. “We need a new return directive to bring rejected asylum seekers back to their home countries more quickly,” says Oetjen. In Germany there are more than 55,000 asylum seekers who are legally obliged to leave the country – “and we carry out around 15,000 deportations per year. We have to do better.”
Visa and stay chances for Asylum seekers in Germany
The current German government has already decided to make things easier for some asylum seekers to stay in Germany permanently. The Opportunity Residence Act has been in effect since this year. It is aimed at rejected asylum seekers who have been in Germany for at least five years. They have tolerated status because they cannot return to their home country for various reasons. The law gives these people the chance to prove a certain language level, find a job, and clarify their identity within 18 months. If they succeed, they can stay.