Germany is facing a deep migration crisis. Districts and municipalities are groaning under the massive influx of asylum seekers and refugees. Many locals, who increasingly feel uncomfortable and betrayed by the politics, are fed up with the government’s course – and are turning away from the established parties.
Exactly in this turbulent time, the Greens are blocking a law with which the government – finally – wanted to show more toughness. A law that many people consider right and important, even if it comes late and is far from sufficient.
It’s about the “Law to Improve Repatriation”. This is intended to significantly facilitate and streamline the deportations of foreigners who have no right to stay in Germany. This applies in particular to criminals and potential threats, who have been protected for long enough.
More and faster deportations – Greens obstructing
The federal cabinet had already approved the draft law at the end of October, and it was supposed to be passed this year.
But now the bang: The Greens, who are part of the ruling coalition, are digging their heels in on key points. They demand that every foreigner who is to be deported gets a kind of public defender in the deportation custody – at state expense.
Possible consequence: The maximum duration of the exit custody of 28 days specified in the law may not be sufficient because the procedures are dragging on. This would make an important point of the law futile. The actual goal – more and faster deportations – would be abandoned.
What a signal to the citizens! What a disgrace for the coalition!
Once again, the team around Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck and Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock proves that they have no interest in a state that consistently takes action against people who are living in Germany unjustly.
The Greens were, are, and remain a party that prevents even the smallest tightening in asylum and migration policies.
Hopes for a turnaround in the coalition’s asylum policy have evaporated
“The Greens do not want to deport and are doing everything to sabotage successful deportations. With this party, it is impossible to govern at the federal level,” said Alexander Throm, the Union’s spokesman on domestic policy in the Bundestag.
Green and leftist forces within the SPD have long resisted, for ideological reasons, adequately responding to the massively increasing numbers of asylum seekers and the flourishing illegal migration. For example, with stationary border controls. Or with tightened deportation rules.
Now, the Greens are even torpedoing a project that, according to Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD), “strengthens the societal support for the admission of refugees in Germany”.
With their resistance to “Turbo Deportations”, the Greens are achieving exactly the opposite. The willingness of people to meet asylum seekers and refugees openly and with solidarity will continue to decline.
Gerd Landsberg, head of the Association of Cities and Municipalities, speaks of a “devastating signal for the allegedly new migration policy”. For the municipalities, the Greens’ approach means “that relief in the major problem of migration and deportation is still not expected”.
In addition, the incident proves how divided the incumbent federal government of the SPD, Greens, and FDP is. CDU’s internal expert Throm summarizes: “The coalition is finished.”
