(Berlin) German MPs approved on Thursday a series of measures toughening the country’s migration policy where the number of asylum seekers increased sharply last year.
The increase of more than 50% in asylum requests in Germany last year, coupled with the reception of a million Ukrainian refugees, is testing the capacities of local authorities who have sounded the alarm.
The situation also benefits the far-right AfD (Alternative for Germany) party, which is making strong progress in the polls.
“We will ensure that people who do not have the right to stay in our country are forced to leave it more quickly,” Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said Thursday about this bill which aims to “deport more quickly and efficiently”.
Sending more people whose right to asylum has been rejected to their country of origin will free up resources for those whom Germany must welcome, she assured.
PHOTO JOHN MACDOUGALL, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Interior Minister Nancy Faeser
“Those fleeing war and terrorism can count on our support,” added Mr.me Faeser, member of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democratic Party.
The measures adopted give the police new powers to search for people ordered to leave the country and to establish the identity of migrants. In addition, the maximum period of detention before expulsion will increase from 10 to 28 days, to give authorities more time to organize expulsions.
Rights groups have criticized these new provisions, with the German Lawyers Association saying they do not fall within the scope of “proportionality”.
“We are horrified that people on the run and those offering them humanitarian aid could be threatened with prison sentences,” said sea rescue group SOS Humanity.
The law provides for harsher penalties for human trafficking, whether or not those assisting with the passage are paid. However, it contains provisions limiting prosecutions to assistance on land, protecting, according to the government, NGOs that help migrants at sea.
The government estimates that this package will lead to 600 additional evictions per year. Faeser noted that stronger implementation of existing policy led to a 27% increase in evictions last year, to 16,430.
According to official figures, 329,120 new asylum applications were registered in 2023.
At the end of 2023, Olaf Scholz’s coalition also decided to reduce the financial aid paid to asylum seekers.