With the right-wing AfD party surging in regional polls, the German government has started deporting convicted migrant criminals back to Afghanistan.
Some 28 criminals — convicted of rape, attempted murder and serious drug-related crimes — were given “1000 euro pocket money” before leaving the country on Friday, German magazine Der Spiegel reported.
“Six of the 28 criminals were in the state of Hesse before their deportation. They were guilty of attempted murder, particularly aggravated robbery, grievous bodily harm and rape,” German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung reported Saturday.
Germany’s state-run DW TV reported the details of the deportation:
A deportation flight to Afghanistan has left Germany’s Leipzig/Halle Airport, the Interior Ministry for the state of Saxony said on Friday.It is the first deportation of Afghans back to their home country since the Taliban took power in Kabul in August 2021.”These were Afghan nationals, all of whom were convicted offenders who had no right to stay in Germany and against whom deportation orders had been issued,” government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said in a statement.A Qatar Airways charter jet carrying 28 Afghan offenders brought from various German states left Leipzig, the biggest city in the eastern state of Saxony, for Kabul at 6:56 am (0456 GMT). (…)A political debate over asylum and deportation rules has been brewing in Germany ahead of state elections. Thuringia and Saxony, two eastern German states where the anti-immigrant AfD party is leading in the polls, are holding elections on Sunday.In the wake of the deadly knife attack in Mannheim at the end of May, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced that the deportation of the most dangerous criminals and terror suspects to Afghanistan and Syria would be possible again.The discussion has grown increasingly heated after three people were killed and eight wounded in the attack which took place during a festival marking Solingen’s 650 years. The suspect is a failed asylum seeker from Syria.
The U-turn on immigration by Germany’s Social Democratic-led government comes as the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party is leading in polls ahead of Sunday’s election in key eastern German states.
“The far-right Alternative for Germany is predicted to come first in at least one of two elections in eastern states on Sunday, piling pressure on Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s federal coalition over the economy, immigration and support for Ukraine,” the Reuters reported Friday. “The AfD is polling 30% in Thuringia, nearly 10 points ahead of the conservatives in second place, while tying with them in Saxony on around 30-32%..”
A series of measures to counter migrant crime were announced by the government in Berlin after an Islamic State-affiliated terrorist stabbed three people to death at a fair in the west German town of Solingen.
Knifes are a weapon of choice for violent criminals swarming the country since the 2015 migrant wave unleashed under Chancellor Angela Merkel’s watch. In 2023, “26,113 knife attacks” were reported in the country, according to the Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper last week.
[Excerpts from German news reports translated by the author]
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