The Association of Correctional Services Staff (BSBD) holds the proposal by Union Chancellor candidate Friedrich Merz (CDU) to take all deportable asylum seekers in custody, to be unfeasible. “We have no space, we have no personnel” said BSBD Federal Chairman René Müller to the “New Osnabrück Times” (Thursday edition). If the implementation were to be shifted to the penal system, that would be a “catastrophe” as some prisons are already overcrowded.
Even if the normal prisons were to be left out of the implementation, correctional services staff would have to be assigned for the deportation detention. “That would then be a burden on the security of the personnel in the prisons” Müller said.
On the other hand, the German Association of Cities and Municipalities expressed support. “For criminal asylum seekers who have been rejected or pose a threat, it should be ensured that they do not evade or flee the return” said Executive Director André Berghegger to the newspaper. “Taking these individuals into custody should not fail due to limited capacities or a lack of coordination between authorities.” In the end, it must be achieved to “send a signal that the return of deportable asylum seekers is coordinated and efficient.