Germany deports more than 5,000 asylum seekers

In the first three months of this year, 5,600 refugees were deported from Germany. Most of these people were sent back to Albania, Italy and Georgia.

On Sunday, May 12, the Funke Media Group reported that the German Interior Ministry had deported 5,600 refugees from the beginning of this year to the end of March.

The number of dismissals has decreased by about 12% compared to the same period last year.

According to the report, which was motivated by the German government's response to the Left Party in the country's parliament, most of the deportees were returned to Italy, Albania and Georgia, 500 people were sent back to Maghreb countries (Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco), and a smaller number were sent back to Poland and Spain.

Thus, the expulsion of asylum seekers who fall under the “Dublin Regulation” continues. According to the “Dublin Agreement,” the country responsible for examining an asylum seeker’s application is the one from which the applicant entered the European Union.

In this way, Germany can return refugees who have entered Germany through Italy or other EU member states to these countries.

Criticism of deportation of refugees

There are currently 250,000 refugees living in Germany whose asylum applications have been rejected and who must be deported by law. But it is not possible to return them to their country because they lack the necessary identification documents.

The expulsion of asylum seekers based on the "Dublin Agreement" has always been criticized by human rights organizations and refugee rights advocates.

Ola Belpke, the internal spokesperson for the Left Party, criticized the deportations in the first three months of this year, stating that returning refugees to Italy in particular was "wrong."

"The asylum application processing system in Italy has many shortcomings, and many refugees in this country are homeless and do not even have access to medicine or food," he said.

Last year, a total of 24,000 refugees were deported from Germany.

Statistics of Iranian applicants

In 2018, around 11,400 Iranian citizens applied for asylum in Germany. According to statistics published by the Office for the Coordination of Refugees and Immigrants, only 2,619 of them received a positive response.

More than five thousand Iranians have had their asylum applications rejected, and others either left Germany or abandoned their asylum applications before their applications were processed.

Source: DW