Germany toughens its migration policy with a "large-scale" deportation campaign

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on the front page of the weekly Der Spiegel at the weekend: "We have to start deporting on a large scale." No sooner said than done. The first cabinet meeting after the eye-catching interview has approved a bill with stricter rules to deport those who remain in the country illegally in greater numbers and faster. "To protect the fundamental right to asylum, we must significantly limit irregular immigration," said Social Democrat Interior Minister Nancy Faeser in Berlin on Wednesday as she presented the text, which must be approved by the Bundestag, the lower house of the German parliament.

The German coalition has significantly toughened its discourse on migration in response to criticism from the opposition and pressure from municipalities and Länder, which say they are overwhelmed by the number of refugees and asylum seekers they have to deal with. The number of irregular entries continues to grow, adding to the pressure on public services of the one million people who fled the war in Ukraine and have settled in Germany.

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The country that stood out for its open-door policy during the 2015 migration crisis is now turning that philosophy on its head and looking for ways to curb the influx of migrants, including by establishing fixed border controls with its eastern neighbors, thus hindering the free movement enshrined in the Schengen treaty. The "wir schaffen das" ("we will get it") popularized by Angela Merkel at the time now finds a different political and social climate. Political parties are trying to win over voters ahead of next year's regional elections, in which the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party is the frontrunner with a tough anti-immigration rhetoric.

The new law, which is part of a much broader migration package – it envisages, for example, that Ukrainian refugees will be able to enter the labour market earlier – aims to cut down on the bureaucracy that prevents migrants who do not have the right to reside in Germany because their asylum application does not meet the requirements from being returned to their countries. The Interior Ministry estimates that there are currently at least 50,000 people who could be subject to the new law and should leave the country immediately.

The number of immigrants who are theoretically forced to leave the country is much higher. As of 30 June, there were 279,098 people, but only a small proportion of them are actually threatened with expulsion. Most of them have what is known as "tolerance status" and cannot be deported either because they lack identity documents, are sick or have a minor child who does have a residence permit. In practice, two out of three deportation attempts fail for various reasons, such as the inability to find the person in question. Faeser said that this year expulsions have increased by 27% compared to 2022, but that the number is still insufficient.

German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser greets Olaf Scholz at Wednesday's cabinet meeting. CLEMENS BILAN (EFE)

The bill gives more powers to the police to determine a person's identity and provides for unannounced searches of their homes, something that organizations such as Caritas Germany are already criticizing. In addition, deportations will no longer be announced to those affected, as is the case now. Normally, there is at least one year of "tolerance" followed by a one-month notice for expulsion. That requirement is eliminated, with one exception: families with children under the age of 12.

Crackdown on traffickers

The crackdown on traffickers, who are responsible for the irregular entry into the country of thousands of people, is also intensifying. Members of criminal organizations can be deported almost automatically when they have been sentenced to a minimum of one year in prison. Until now, they were part of the legal process of applying for asylum and were able to remain in Germany. Even without conviction, if evidence of their membership in a criminal organization is found, it will be easier to expel them, the interior minister promised. In addition, there are plans to increase the minimum and maximum penalties for smugglers, "especially in cases of violent actions," said Faeser, who recalled the accident in which seven migrants died at the border with Austria after the smuggler transporting them in a van fled a police checkpoint.

In addition to bureaucratic difficulties and lack of personnel to speed up expulsions, in many cases there is a lack of willingness to cooperate on the part of the countries that are required to welcome back their nationals. The German government is trying to reach migration agreements with countries of origin, Faeser said Wednesday. "The new rules are necessary so that we can continue to fulfil our humanitarian responsibility to the people we have to protect from war and terror, such as the 1.1 million people from Ukraine," he added. And he was blunt, like the foreign minister in his much-discussed interview over the weekend: "Those who do not have the right to stay must leave our country."

The tightening of the law has provoked some internal criticism, including within Scholz's Social Democratic Party (SPD), but is especially controversial for the Greens, who maintain a less strict stance on asylum and migration policy. Green MP Jürgen Trittin pointed out on his X account (formerly Twitter) that promises of large-scale deportations will not be kept. "The real solutions are burden-sharing in Europe, expedited asylum procedures, more money for municipalities and the integration of refugees into the labour market," he added. The liberals of the FDP, the third government partner, have long called for a stronger hand. Scholz, for his part, is showing signs that the problem worries him: "The number of refugees seeking to come to Germany at the moment is too high," he said recently.

The government's decision comes just days before an important meeting of the executive with the Länder to address the issue of migration and after Scholz sent a letter to opposition leader Friedrich Merz, assuring him that he is determined to reduce the number of people residing in Germany without any prospect of regularization. Merz, chairman of the Christian Democrats of the CDU, has increased the pressure on the coalition government with statements against the entry of more migrants and has offered Scholz a state pact, which the chancellor seems to have accepted: "For me it is important that the federal government, the federal states and the opposition reach agreements together to significantly reduce irregular migration," he said. Scholz replies in the letter, published by several German media.

In parallel to attempts to prevent further irregular entries and to expel people who do not have the right to reside in Germany, the government made up of Social Democrats, Greens and Liberals seeks to attract skilled workers from outside the European Union to help alleviate the pressing need for labour in the German labour market. In this case, the requirements for obtaining residence permits and even citizenship are being relaxed to make Germany an attractive destination.

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