German authorities late last month celebrated the first deportation flight to Afghanistan—carrying 28 convicted criminals—since the Taliban took power. “The action,” said Der Spiegel, “is intended to send a signal.”
But concerns have emerged after a separate report revealed that these deportees were paid around 20 times more than is standard for rejected asylum seekers.
The individuals were given €1,000 in cash before the flight—potentially pocketed later by the Taliban—and were accompanied by a doctor, despite the fact that a handful of federal states told NiUS that deportees are typically given around €50. The paper said that this “highly unusual” figure prompted it to ask “whether there was an urgent request from [Interior Minister Nancy Faeser on behalf of] the federal government to pay out more cash than usual in the case of the Afghans,” although it found that the authorities did not want to comment.
Instead, the federal and state governments both said it was the responsibility of the other to provide answers in this case.
The payments raise the question of whether Germany is capable of deporting illegal migrants from particular countries who have committed crimes, or whether it is only able to remove those it can coax with cash.
CDU representative Kristian Beara suggested that the state will struggle to “regain trust and reduce political disillusionment”—particularly on the issue of illegal migration—if it gives a “cash bonus” to criminals being removed from the country.
Former Bundestag member Erika Steinbach added that the deportation flight was “purely an election campaign manoeuvre,” designed to show the government is getting tough on migration. “But,” she added, “it didn’t help.”
The state’s authority in this case has been thrown even further into doubt by suggestions the €1,000 in cash ended up in the hands of the Taliban. Reinhard Erös, a German expert on the Taliban, told FOCUS Online: “I assume that the €1,000 per person was taken away immediately after entry.” The deported offenders could also now be at large, prompting some to suggest that Faeser and co. had been “mocked.”
