The number of deportations from Germany has dropped significantly during the coronavirus pandemic. Many destination states continue to uphold entry restrictions, slowing the forced return of failed asylum seekers and criminal offenders.
A total of 5,022
people were deported from Germany between January and May of this year, marking a decline of over 50% compared to the
same period last year when the number stood at 10,951. The monthly total
dropped to a record low of 150 in May, the German Funke media group reports,
citing figures by the interior ministry.
Meanwhile, the number of persons obliged to leave the country ("ausreisepflichtig") has risen to 266,605 in May this year compared to 245,597 one year ago.
"Many countries continue to refuse the entry of foreign nationals or limit the entry to a few inevitable, individual cases," the interior ministry told Funke media group. This includes the return of criminal offenders.
No green light
The federal police reportedly ranks destination countries according to a traffic-lights system, marking as red the countries to which deporations are denied, yellow for individual cases only, and green for no restrictions. At the moment, none of the 121 countries in the system is listed as "green", Funke media group reports. The interior minstry told Funke it is pressing states for "a timely readmission of returns."
Joachim Hermann, the interior minister of Bavaria – the
state with the second largest number of asylum applications in Germany in 2020
--, says that as Germany is seeing a return to normalcy from coronavirus
restrictions, he wishes that "we return to a normalcy in deportations as well." He also told Funke that he is convinced that "an asylum system will
only be accepted in the long term when the state consistently enacts its positive
as well as its negative decisions."
Dublin returns