The German governing ‘traffic light’ coalition of the Social Democrats, Greens and the liberal Free Democrats had promised to tighten the country’s asylum procedures, but new legislation appears to be in jeopardy as the Greens have made demands that could lead to even fewer deportations in the future.
The Repatriation Improvement Act has been blocked by the Greens, who are demanding that all foreign nationals be given lawyers at tax-payer expense to challenge their deportation decision, a move that could halt deportations, Berliner Zeitung reports.
While the bill seeks to extend the time allowed to detain illegal migrants from ten to 28 days in order to prevent them from going into hiding, the Green proposal could mean that legal challenges to the deportations could go on for an even longer period, meaning the government would be forced to release the detained illegal migrants.
The Green Party demand has led to the bill being put on hold for the time being and may also mean the entire legislation could be in peril.
Gerd Landsberg, head of the German Association of Towns and Municipalities, expressed disappointment with the lack of an agreement saying:
If we continue to expand the deportation bureaucracy, we will not have any success. This is a devastating signal for the supposedly new migration policy. For the municipalities, this means that relief from the major problem of migration and deportation is still not to be expected.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz has long promised reforms to the German asylum system to speed up the deportation of migrants living in Germany illegally.
In October, Scholz said that the government would look to begin “large-scale” deportations as the country could see as many as 300,000 new asylum applications by the end of this year, a number not seen since the the migrant crisis of 2016.
“Too many people are coming,” Scholz said, adding, ”We must finally deport on a large scale those who have no right to stay in Germany.”
Germany has struggled with enacting deportations in recent years, due to factors from the COVID-19 pandemic to issues with home countries refusing to take back their nationals.
In 2022, Germany planned to deport 41,568 people but due to various factors, just 18,094 left the country, meaning 56.5% of all of the planned deportations failed.
Stephan Brandner, a federal MP for the Alternative for Germany (AfD), noted in September that as many as 280,000 people in Germany were living in the country illegally and called the federal government’s lack of commitment to carrying out deportations a “farce.”
The asylum and deportation disagreements come as the traffic light coalition seems more and more fractious as the three parties constantly clash over various topics.
It took the coalition weeks to agree to the 2024 budget and critics from opposition parties have been outspoken on proposals like a higher CO2 tax, which some believe could harm the German economy.
The popularity of the traffic light coalition among the German public has also sunk in recent months, while support for both the CDU and the AfD, in particular, has surged.
A poll released this week put the traffic light coalition at just 34.5% combined, far away from a ruling majority, while the CDU and their sister party, the Bavarian Christian Social Union (CSU) scored 30% and the AfD came in at 22.5%.
