CDU General Secretary Carsten Linnemann’s proposal to drastically toughen up the expulsion law is being rejected by the SPD. “The shock is a classic Linnemann – a lot of populism, little problem-solving”, said SPD’s Helge Lindh to the “World” (Tuesday edition).
The SPD, together with the Union and in the grand coalition government, has already toughened up the expulsion law, now it’s not about “defining even more expulsion cases, but about applying the existing ones”, said the Social Democrat. “We don’t have a legislative deficiency, but an implementation deficiency. More than 60 percent of deportation attempts fail, but Linnemann and Merz want to make people believe that with the toughening of the expulsion law, the deportations will suddenly skyrocket”.
He accused Linnemann not only of “false legislative activism”, but also of trying to win voters by linking foreigners and criminality, said Lindh.
The FDP wants to keep its distance from the Union’s demands, but is open to a discussion, it is said. Innenpolitiker Konstantin Kuhle said the “World”: “The FDP has repeatedly advocated for the rules on the deportation of intensively and repeatedly offending foreigners without a German passport to be tightened”.
The recently toughened rules with the Return Improvement Act should be applied uniformly by the states. “If it turns out that the new rules are not enough, one should further toughen the rules on the deportation and expulsion of intensively and repeatedly offending foreigners”, said the FDP faction vice.
Linnemann had announced that a Union-led federal government would deport many more foreign criminals. Who is sentenced to a prison term must lose their right of residence in the future. Additionally, the right of residence should also expire in the future for those who commit a “warning shot” of a lesser crime after a second intentional offense, said Linnemann to the “Bild”.
The AfD welcomes the Union’s demands for more deportations, but demands even stricter measures. The party’s interior policy speaker Gottfried Curio said the “World”: “Not only foreign criminals, but also those who have announced or threatened serious crimes should lose their right of residence”. The expulsion should also apply to cases like the later Magdeburg attacker.
Clara Bünger, the refugee policy expert of the Left Group in the Bundestag, sees it differently. She considers the CDU proposals as “neither practical nor goal-oriented”. The Union is trying to fish on the right side without actually offering solutions, said Bünger. “The existing expulsion law already provides for a careful weighing of the state’s interest in expulsion and the right of the affected to stay”.