The German government is planning to conduct at least one more deportation flight to Afghanistan before the federal election, according to a report by the Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ) based on documents provided to the newspaper. The Federal Ministry of the Interior is preparing a “collective measure”to deport serious offenders and a threat to public safety, with the planned operation set to take place by February 22, 2025, at the latest, confirmed the Ministry of the Interior to the Free State of Bavaria. Despite the proximity to the federal election, the Ministry denies any connection to the event.
“We are the only state in Europe to have deported serious offenders to Afghanistan for the first time since the Taliban regime. And we are working intensively to deport more serious offenders to Afghanistan”Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) stated on Thursday. The procedure, however, is not related to the federal election, a Ministry spokesperson said.
The SZ also reports that in Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg, serious offenders have already been taken into custody for deportation. The detention period is limited to the period until February 22 of this year.
In August, just before the state elections in Thuringia, Saxony and Brandenburg, 28 Afghan individuals who had committed crimes were deported. The deportation followed the Islamist-motivated attack on the “Festival of Diversity”in Solingen, which resulted in the deaths of three people and the injury of eight others.
This was the only such measure, despite promises from, for example, Chancellor Scholz of a tough and consistent approach.
Following the attack in Aschaffenburg this week, in which a child and a 41-year-old man were killed by an Afghan man with a mental health issue, the discussion on deportations has gained momentum again. The CDU’s chancellor candidate, Friedrich Merz, plans to submit a bill on the protection of Germany’s borders and the handling of criminal asylum seekers for a vote next week.
Two draft bills have been prepared, at least one of which contains a passage directly targeting the AfD and therefore will not gain a majority in its current form. This move by the CDU makes it clear that it will continue to use the migration issue as a campaign theme, but has no interest in a timely solution.
Meanwhile, thousands of people demonstrated in numerous cities against the right, condemning the demand for better protection of Germany’s external borders against illegal migration and the deportation of criminal asylum seekers as right-wing extremism and warning of a return of fascism to Germany.