Last year, 60 % of all deportation attempts failed. According to the Federal Police, as reported by “Welt am Sonntag” 32,855 deportations were stopped before being handed over to the return-authority officers at the airports. Most of these failures were caused by “unannounced non‑escort” (21,341 incidents) carried out by state police or by “cancellation of the search” (11,184 incidents) announced in advance. After the handover, another 1,593 attempts were abandoned, leaving only 22,787 successful deportations.
A response from the Federal Ministry of the Interior to a request by the AfD parliamentary group shows that in the first four months of 2025-while the former federal government was still in office-an average of 2,035 people were deported each month. From May to December 2025, the average fell to 1,831 per month.
AfD spokesperson Gottfried Curio told “Welt am Sonntag” that the so‑called “migration turn” has not materialised in the field of deportations. He called for using all available pressure tools, from visa restrictions to development aid, against reluctant source countries.
To reduce the number of failed deportations because the persons subject to deportation cannot be found at their registered address, Hessian Interior Minister Roman Poseck (CDU) proposes locating missing migrants by mobile phone. “The goal isn’t to suspect and monitor every person in the exit queue” he said. “The measure is only triggered when a person is not located, allowing a swift response and phone‑based location so that the planned deportation can still take place”.
Poseck added that mobile‑phone tracking is “significantly faster” than applying for a travel‑detention order, which requires a judge to assess the duration and justification on a case‑by‑case basis. “Mobile‑phone tracking could actually rescue the intended deportation, whereas detention would only be considered as a backup for further attempts” he explained.
Saxony Interior Minister Armin Schuster (CDU) also supports the proposal, saying mobile tracking would be a useful addition to the deportation toolkit. More importantly, he argues, if persons required to leave could be prevented from disappearing thanks to readily available travel detention, then the likelihood of successful deportation would increase. Schuster urges the EU level to lift the separation clause so that regular prison facilities can again be used for travel detention.