Germany German interior ministers urge deportations to Afghanistan

The interior ministers of the German federal states are pushing for the deportation of serious criminals and Islamist threats to Afghanistan and Syria. This has triggered a controversial debate.

Criticism comes from refugee organizations. The Left Party also considers deportations to Afghanistan to be incompatible with the constitution and international law because of the threat of human rights violations there. The conference of interior ministers, which was due to begin on Wednesday afternoon in Potsdam under the chairmanship of Brandenburg, is primarily concerned with asylum and migration policy following fatal knife attacks by Afghans.

The demand by several interior ministers to end the payment of citizens' allowances to war refugees from Ukraine also caused controversy. Instead, they want to ensure that only lower payments are made in accordance with the Asylum Seekers Benefits Act.

Brandenburg's Interior Minister and IMK Chairman Michael Stübgen (CDU) argued that the citizen's allowance had become a "brake shoe for taking up work". However, the German government rejects this. The German Association of Cities also rejected the proposal on Wednesday. Stübgen had previously criticized the fact that Ukrainians of military age who had fled from military service in their home country were being supported in Germany.

Afghans at the center of the debate

Last Friday evening, an Afghan was shot dead by police officers in Wolmirstedt near Magdeburg. He is said to have stabbed a 23-year-old compatriot and then injured several people at a private European Championship garden party. In Mannheim on May 31, an Afghan injured five members of the Islam-critical Pax Europa movement and a police officer with a knife. The police officer died.

Saxony-Anhalt Interior Minister Tamara Zieschang (CDU) is also calling for an immediate halt to the federal admission program for vulnerable people from Afghanistan. As a result of the knife attacks, several states are calling for stricter gun laws and an expansion of gun ban zones. Faeser also wants to reform gun laws once again. However, some of her proposals have met with resistance from her coalition partner, the FDP.

Germany has not deported anyone to Afghanistan since the radical Islamist Taliban took power in Kabul in August 2021. The decision of the immigration authorities, who handle deportations with the support of the Federal Police, is based on the latest situation report from the Federal Foreign Office on the situation in the country of origin.

Federal states call for greater containment of irregular migration

The federal states are also calling for further efforts to curb irregular migration. They see Faeser in particular as having a duty, also with regard to further agreements with countries of origin that have so far cooperated poorly or not at all in taking back citizens from Germany who are obliged to leave the country.

"So far, the federal government has been reluctant to enter into migration agreements with countries of origin that are really important for repatriation, such as Egypt, Ivory Coast and Gambia," criticized Interior Minister Zieschang. The federal government must hold talks with these countries so that they cooperate in the identification, passport replacement and repatriation of their nationals in future.