Germany: More expensive deportations via small charter planes

In Germany, many deportations are still carried out via expensive charter flights.

Berlin - In the first half of 2022, eleven such flights took just 35 people out of the country, in some cases only to another EU country. This emerges from a response from the federal government to a request from the left-wing faction in the Bundestag, as reported by the Funke newspapers in their Sunday editions. A total of 167 police officers were deployed to provide security.

The costs for the "aircraft" amounted to a total of 580,000 euros for the state. In 2019, before the start of the Covid pandemic, the authorities had used 21 "mini charters" with a maximum of four foreigners who were obliged to leave the country per flight. A total of 48 people were deported from Germany in 2019, and according to the Federal Ministry of the Interior, the flight costs amounted to 1.35 million euros.

In 2020 there were 14 "mini charters" with a total of 39 people on board. In individual cases, the costs for these deportation flights amounted to more than 100,000 euros for one or two people who were obliged to leave the country. In only a few cases, the EU border protection authority Frontex reimbursed the costs.

In addition, German authorities also use the so-called "mini charter" for transfers to other EU countries within the framework of the Dublin Agreement. The federal government writes that the use of these flights is based "both on the needs of the responsible state authorities and, if necessary, on the specifications of the destination states". In some cases, the authorities also deport serious offenders or extremist threats from Germany at great expense.

However, deported persons are not always accompanied by police officers on flights to the destination countries. "In the first half of 2022, 2,959 deportations were carried out unaccompanied," writes the federal government. According to the Federal Government's response to inquiries from the left-wing faction, the authorities deported a total of 6,198 people from Germany in the first half of 2022. The main target countries were North Macedonia (454), Albania (402) and Georgia (397). The Federal Republic deported 230 people to Turkey in the first six months. In addition, there were another 1,826 repatriations of asylum seekers to other EU states under the Dublin Regulation. The coalition agreement between the SPD, Greens and FDP provides for a "repatriation offensive to implement the obligation to leave the country more consistently", said the Federal Ministry of the Interior when asked by the Funke newspapers. "In the case of criminals and endangered persons, regulations are provided to facilitate the expulsion and the ordering of detention pending deportation for this group of people." "Further legal changes required" are currently being examined. The left-wing faction sharply criticizes the practice: "It leaves you speechless what resources the federal and state governments are willing to use to get people out of the country," said the left-wing spokeswoman for refugee policy, Clara Bünger. "Instead of enforcing deportations with ever more repressive means, a comprehensive right of residence regulation is needed."

Source: Der Newsticker

Photo: Christof Stache/Agenge France-Presse/Getty Images.