A spokesman for German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that on Friday morning, Afghans found guilty of crimes were sent back to their homeland on a charter jet, marking the first such deportation since the Taliban took power. The spokeswoman declared, “Germany’s security interests clearly outweigh the protection interests of criminals.”
Following the Taliban’s 2021 Return, Deportations to Afghanistan Commence
The German chancellery and the interior ministry had been planning the operation for two months, according to the Brussels-based news portal Politico. The 28 deportees were transported to Leipzig overnight from detention centers, given €1,000 in cash, and had a doctor with them.
The report also stated that the German government started the deportations by using Qatar as a middleman. The alliance led by Scholz had consistently rejected holding direct talks with the Taliban government.
Recently, calls for the deportation of criminals with convictions from Germany to Afghanistan and Syria have increased as the country is once again embroiled in a heated debate over immigration.
Due to the security situation, Germany stopped all deportations to Afghanistan in the summer of 2021 as US forces left the nation after 20 years and the Taliban retook power.
The flight to Kabul takes place just a few days after Syrian national who is believed to be a member of the Islamic State was detained by German authorities for allegedly using a knife to kill three people in the German city of Solingen.
Faster Deportation Procedures, Less Benefits
On Thursday, the German government also unveiled a more restrictive immigration policy. The mass-market tabloid Bild dubbed the proposed policies “bed, bread, soap,” alluding to the bare minimum of provisions that will be provided. The measures call for the quicker deportation of asylum seekers who are denied entry as well as the removal of financial benefits for those who have already registered in another EU member country.
It will also be illegal for asylum seekers to travel to their home countries on vacation. The centre-right Free Democrats’ Marco Buschmann, the minister of justice, stated that this was in “clear contradiction to the claim their home countries are not safe.”
Such travel would only be permitted in certain circumstances, “like a family funeral,” according to Faeser. Losing asylum status would be the consequence of breaking the rules.
More rights will be given to security agencies to use biometric information, such as online facial recognition, to identify criminal suspects more accurately and to compile data on asylum seekers.