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Germany steps up migrant deportations to North Africa
BERLIN, Oct 8, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Germany has boosted the number of
repatriations of rejected asylum seekers to Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia,
Berlin said Monday, following years of diplomatic pressure on the Maghreb
states.
“We have managed to improve cooperation with these countries, which has
resulted in a rise of repatriations,” said an interior ministry spokesman.
Between 2015 and last year, repatriations from the biggest EU economy to
Algeria rose from 57 to 504, he said.
To Morocco, they increased from 61 to 634, and to Tunisia from 17 to 251
over the same period.
Immigration and refugee flows became a flashpoint issue in Germany after
Chancellor Angela Merkel decided in 2015 to keep borders open to a mass
influx of people fleeing war and misery, half of them from Iraq, Syria and
Afghanistan.
The move earned her praise from liberal commentators but also sparked a
xenophobic backlash that a year ago saw the far-right and anti-Islam
Alternative for Germany (AfD) enter parliament for the first time.
Public fears have been heightened by several jihadist attacks — especially
a 2016 truck rampage through a Berlin Christmas market that killed 12 and was
attributed to Tunisian rejected asylum seeker Anis Amri.
Germany has since pushed hard to reduce migrant flows, especially of those
deemed to be fleeing poverty rather than conflict.
Bild daily quoted unnamed German security sources saying that “intensive
negotiations” had improved cooperation with the Maghreb states, especially in
exchanging biometric data to identify deportees and issue them new travel
documents.
Merkel’s government has also repeatedly tried to add the three North
African states to its list of “safe countries of origin”, which would vastly
raise the hurdles for asylum requests by its citizens.
However, passage of the bill into law has been blocked in the upper house
by states ruled by the left-leaning Greens party, which argues the three
Maghreb nations cannot be considered “safe” as long as journalists, gays and
other minority groups are targets of state persecution there.
BSS/AFP/MRI/1738 HRS