Afghan migrants

Germany cracks down on Afghan migrants

Merkel’s government claims deportations will rise “significantly.”

By Janosch Delcker

As Angela Merkel comes under increasing pressure to limit the number of migrants flocking to Germany, her government is now targeting asylum seekers from Afghanistan in an attempt to show strength in dealing with the refugee crisis.

Here too, an increasingly fierce debate splits German society. While there are calls for more Afghans to be deported — Germany, after all, has been part of the coalition trying to make their homeland safe — critics of the policy say that Afghanistan is not secure enough for people to be sent back.

Based on the number of refugees “both this month, as well as over the course of 2015, Afghanistan ranks number two in the list of countries of origin of refugees – that’s unacceptable,” German Interior Minister Thomas De Maizière told journalists Wednesday.

German soldiers and police were stationed in Afghanistan to make the country safer, De Maizière said, and “one could expect the Afghans to stay in their country.”

De Maizière’s tough line comes as the debate on how to deal with the migration crisis has become increasingly heated. The focus on Afghanistan suggests that Merkel wants to demonstrate assertiveness after weeks of criticism for her September decision to welcome hundreds of thousands of refugees amid the continent’s migrant crisis since World War II.

Horst Seehofer, the conservative leader of Bavaria, on Tuesday called for limits on the number of refugees allowed in to Germany. He gave her a deadline of Sunday night to change tack, but did not elaborate on what would happen, or not happen, if that deadline is missed.

A new asylum law came into force Saturday that seeks to reduce incentives for so-called economic migrants coming to Germany by cutting cash benefits and speeding up the review process for asylum applications. That law, and much of the discussion of the crisis, focused on migrants from Albania, Kosovo and Serbia. But asylum seekers from Afghanistan are now in the firing line too.

“We have to become faster and more consistent with decisions as to whether asylum can be granted,” Julia Klöckner, vice president of Merkel’s ruling Christian Democrats, said in an interview when asked about the situation of Afghan refugees. She added: “If people in the countries of origin see that their neighbors who left 10 days ago are already back, this has a greater effect than anything else.”

The topic was raised during a summit on Sunday on the migration crisis in the Western Balkans. A spokesperson for Merkel said on Wednesday that Germany had stressed the importance of a repatriation agreement between the EU and Afghanistan.

Macedonia, another summit participant, has also voiced concern. According to government data, the composition of the flow of migrants into Macedonia is changing. It says that the number of Syrians moving through the country decreased from nearly 90 percent of the flow in August to about 60 percent in October. The number of Afghans, meanwhile, has been rising and they now represent almost 20 percent of the flow.

At present, just under half of all Afghan applications for asylum in Germany are approved. Among the factors taken into account are if the applicant had cooperated with German troops or allies, and where in Afghanistan the applicant comes from. While some parts of the country are ruled by the Taliban and considered dangerous, other areas, including the capital Kabul, are deemed safer — although not by everyone.

“I was in Kabul myself just two weeks ago — my 12th trip,” Omid Nouripour, a Green Party member of the German parliament, said. “The security situation was never as messed up as today.”

Afghans who have been granted asylum in Germany supported Nouripour’s view, describing a security situation that has become worse in part because of the resurgence of the Taliban. “If you send people, they will most likely join ISIL or the Taliban,” one Afghan living in Germany said.

Sayed Hussian Alimi Balkhi, Afghanistan’s minister of refugees and repatriations, told Die Welt on Monday that Germany should not increase deportations as the security situation was deteriorating.

In a press statement on Wednesday following reports about a planned repatriation agreement between the EU and Afghanistan, which is being pushed by Germany, pro-migration NGO Pro Asyl accused the German government of ignoring both reality and human rights. The group added that so far this year the conflict between government troops and the Taliban had resulted in more civilian casualties than in previous years.

There are certainly people willing to go to great lengths to get to Europe. According to Presse Portal, a five-member Afghan family paid €120,000 to smugglers to help them get to Germany.

More than half of asylum applications from Afghans may be rejected, but according to a report in Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung almost no Afghans have been deported from Germany in the past few years. Those whose asylum request was turned down were stuck in a legal limbo; not granted asylum but not being forced to leave Germany.

That situation has to change, De Maizière said Wednesday. “The number of repatriations, voluntary returns and deportations will rise significantly,” he said, referring to the new asylum law’s stated aim of increasing deportations.

Government spokespeople confirmed that Afghan refugees whose asylum applications were rejected would be deported, adding “it’s about carrying out what would actually be the appropriate procedure.”

According to data from the United Nations, around 21 percent of the more than 115,000 refugees who reached Greece via the Mediterranean this year were from Afghanistan.