Amid growing debate over deportation policy, Federal Migration Commissioner Joachim Stamp discussed the possibility of deporting them to Rwanda if they have difficulties returning to their homeland.
Speaking with podcast Table.Briefings On Thursday, Stamp said that migrants coming to Germany via Russia and Belarus could be sent to the East African country.
He described the influx of migrants from both countries as part of Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Belarusian counterpart, Alexander Lukashenko.
The pair are “deliberately sending migrants to the eastern border of the European Union,” Stamp said, adding that it was part of a plot to lure Syrian, Iraqi and Afghan refugees to Europe via Minsk and Moscow.
Stamp, a member of the neoliberal Free Democrats (FDP), said the German government could “basically use the existing structures designed for the British.”
Successive conservative UK governments sought a comprehensive deal to send large numbers of asylum seekers to Rwanda. However, the scheme was declared illegal by the country’s highest court and eventually scrapped after Prime Minister Keir Starmer came to power.
Deportation top priority for Scholz government
Stamp added the caveat, however, that this would require Germany to amend some of its deportation laws. Currently, migrants can only be deported to a country next to their home country if they have some connection to it, such as relatives living there.
A rejected Syrian asylum-seeker earmarked for deportation has been deported following a fatal knife attack in the town of Solingen. Further complicating deportations to places like Syria and Afghanistan is that the person’s home country must be ready to receive them and .
In the wake of the Solingen attack, Chancellor Olaf Scholz has vowed to introduce new draft laws to speed up deportations by December.
es/nm (dpa, WELT)
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