According to a confidential document from the Federal Ministry of the Interior, the reason for the delay in the deportation of the Afghan asylum seeker, who committed the Aschaffenburg double murder, is the overwhelming workload at the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF).
The BAMF had rejected the asylum seeker’s application on June 19, 2023 and he was supposed to be deported to Bulgaria, as he had entered Germany through that country. However, the corresponding deportation letter from the BAMF to the responsible foreign authority was only sent on July 26, more than a month after the initial rejection. This meant that the deadline for a return to Bulgaria, which ended on August 3, was too short.
“The so-called final notification of the procedure (notification to the foreign authority about the unappealable decision) was only sent on July 26, 2023, to the foreign authority” a document cited by the newspaper states.
“This delay in sending the final notification is not retrospectively explicable and is likely to be due to the high workload at the BAMF in 2023, due to the high number of access applications” a spokesperson for the Interior Ministry said in response to a “Bild” inquiry. “The Federal Government has taken consequences from the long processing times at the BAMF, in particular in 2023. The BAMF has been significantly strengthened in personnel terms. In 2024, the BAMF has received personnel funds for an additional 1,140 staff members.