On Thursday, July 3rd, Austria sent a Syrian man who had been convicted of a crime back to Syria. This was the first time in recent years that a country in the European Union officially sent someone back to Syria, according to Austria’s interior ministry.
The move may be the first step in Austria’s efforts to make its asylum rules stricter. “The deportation carried out today is part of a strict and thus fair asylum policy,” said Interior Minister Gerhard Karner in a statement. The ministry pointed out that Austria is the “first European country to officially deport a Syrian criminal directly to Syria in recent years.”
Karner is a member of the governing coalition’s largest party, the Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP), and has often spoken in support of tougher migration rules. In April, he went to Syria with Germany’s interior minister, Nancy Faeser, to talk about deportations and other related topics.
On Thursday, Karner repeated that he supports the government’s hardline approach. He said Austria would “continue this chosen path with hard work and determination.”
Austria had stopped accepting any asylum applications from Syrians after the fall of Syria’s leader, Bashar al-Assad, in December. It also ended family reunification programs for Syrians. Today, around 100,000 Syrians live in Austria, making it one of the countries with the largest Syrian communities in Europe.
