Chancellor Olaf Scholz pronounced on Thursday, 16 March 2023 that Germany will have to do a better job at putting an end to “irregular migration” and deporting those who do not reside in the country legally.
However, Scholz assured that Germany would continue to provide protection for Ukrainians fleeing Russia’s war.
In a speech to parliament, the German Chancellor noted “Our responsibility in the face of this terrible war of aggression naturally also includes providing protection for Ukrainian citizens in the European Union.”
Scholz added that “all levels of government have been doing a great job for more than a year, especially the cities, counties and municipalities.”
More than 1 million Ukrainians have found shelter in Germany since Russia invaded their country more than a year ago. In addition, more than 200,000 people from countries like Syria, Afghanistan and Turkey applied for asylum in 2022.
For months, local communities have said that they are struggling to house the many newcomers to Germany and have been calling on the federal government to help them with accommodation, schooling and financial support for all.
While Ukrainians have in general been warmly welcomed by Germans, asylum-seekers from the Middle East or Africa have experienced more hostility with the number of attacks on asylum centers rising again over the last year.
Scholz stated that “effective answers to the challenges of flight and migration will only be possible by means of a European framework.”
Germany has long been one of the most popular destinations for migrants in Europe, and the government has been lobbying for those who come to be distributed across Europe more fairly, but to little avail.
Speed Up Deportation Of People With Rejected Asylum Applications
Scholz also stressed that Germany has to speed up the deportation of those who have their asylum applications rejected.
“Those who do not have a right of residence in Germany must return to their home country quickly. That does not work well enough yet.”
Chancellor Olaf Scholz
According to the Mediendienst Integration group, by the end of last year, about 240,000 people were going through the asylum procedure and around 168,000 people had been rejected as asylum-seekers and were obliged to leave the country. Mediendienst Integration group researches migration in Germany.
However, only 12,945 people who were required to leave Germany were eventually deported in 2022.
“We want to reduce irregular migration. We want fewer people to put themselves in the hands of smugglers and on life-threatening escape routes.”
Chancellor Scholz
Scholz did not go into details on how to reduce irregular migration.
German police on Wednesday, March 15, 2023 conducted raids against a group suspected of smuggling about 90 people into the country, making five arrests, authorities said.
Police and prosecutors in the German capital noted in a joint statement that more than 20 apartments and offices in Berlin and the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt were searched, along with three vehicles and a bank safe in the Bavarian town of Hof.
Five men were arrested, four of them in Berlin and one in the city of Halle.
The group is suspected of bringing about 90 people, mostly from Turkey and Iraq, to Germany between October 2019 and January this year, with migrants paying up to 10,000 euros ($10,500) to be smuggled by car or truck along the so-called Balkan route.
Nine people believed to be Turkish citizens who were in Germany illegally were discovered in the apartments that police searched.
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