Germany unveils law for faster migrant returns

German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser on Thursday outlined her deportation legislation for failed asylum seekers, saying it was a necessary part of addressing concerns about immigration.

Migration has become a major political issue for Germany's coalition government, with Chancellor Olaf Scholz's Social Democrats (SPD) vowing to take a harder lineas the number of migrants arriving has surged.

Why are the changes being made?

Faeser addressed lawmakers in Germany's lower house of parliament, the Bundestag, saying the legislation was fundamental to social acceptance of migration.

"Anyone who has no right to stay must leave Germany again," she said. "We must be able to enforce this principle; otherwise we will harm our community."

The minister said it was remarkable that Germany has gone from being a nation that caused two world wars to becoming country where people sought protection.

"In order for us to be this country, we also need clear rules and laws.  This means that those who do not have the right to remain must leave the country again — quickly and reliably."

"This is a prerequisite for migration to be accepted in society."

What the law includes

Faeser said the draft law to improve returns would create the necessary conditions for expulsions and returns to take place.

It contains more than 40 individual measures that the government says will make the execution of deportations easier and simpler.

Foremost is an extension of the maximum length of pre-deportation detention from 10 to 28 days to make it easier for authorities to guarantee that deportations actually take place. Currently, returns often fail at the last minute.

Sometimes this is due to a lack of cooperation from migrants — who for instance, do not provide identification papers — because they are severely ill, they come from a war zone, or because their home countries refuse to take them back. 

Proposed changes include expanded police powers, specifically ending a requirement to notify individuals before they are deported. There would be exceptions for people who are ill or who have children with them.

Police would also be able to search the residences of third parties when seeking to establish a migrant's identity. Authorities are currently only allowed to search the bedroom of the individual in question.

The law also gives police the right to search computers and mobile phones to establish an individual's identity.

Migrants determined to have criminal connections will also be subject to swifter deportation, regardless of whether they have committed crimes in Germany.

Is the law controversial?

The law has been agreed by the three-way coalition of center-left SPD, of which Faeser and Scholz are members, the Green Party and the neoliberal Free Democrats (FDP).

However, some members of the Green Party have called the proposal "a massive encroachment on fundamental rights," labeling it disproportionate and too severe.

The draft does not go far enough for some conservative lawmakers, with the center-right Christian Democrats (CDU) pushing for more and faster deportations.

CDU Chief Whip Hendrik Hoppenstedt said it contained some correct and sensible measures but does not bring about a "turnaround in migration policy."

He said the law was far too late and failed to address the "acute migration crisis." Hoppenstedt also criticized its "negligible effect" — according to the draft, the law would ensure 600 additional deportations per year.

The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) has taken an even harder view of the draft. "The law only brings tiny micro changes,” said AfD parliamentary secretary Bernd Baumann. He called the additional deportations per year a "not even homeopathic" dose.

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rc/wmr (AFP, dpa)