A deportation flight bound for Afghanistan carrying 28 Afghan citizens left Germany on Friday morning (30), a day after the German government promised to strengthen its asylum regulations following a deadly knife attack.
A spokesman for the Saxon Interior Ministry told CNN that a plane with the Afghans on board left Leipzig shortly before 7 a.m. local time and was scheduled to land in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Friday afternoon.
The Afghans on the flight are convicted criminals from several German states who were selected by the Interior Ministry, the spokesman added.
Flight trackers show a Qatar Airlines Boeing 787 left Leipzig at 6:55 a.m., traveling to Kabul.
The flight marks the first deportation of Afghans from Germany back to their home country since the Taliban retook power three years ago in August 2021. According to German magazine Der Spiegel, the deportations are the result of months of negotiations and planning.
Der Spiegel reported that each deportee, all men, received a payment of 1,000 euros. A spokesman for the Saxon Interior Ministry was unable to confirm this.
At a press conference after the flight’s departure, government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit stressed to journalists that Berlin was not in direct negotiations with the Taliban. Instead, it secured the deportation through mediation by key regional powers.
Hebestreit added that the German government had made “intense efforts” to deport migrants who committed serious crimes back to Afghanistan and Syria following a knife attack in the southwestern city of Mannheim in late May.
A police officer was fatally wounded during the attack and several others were injured, with German authorities pointing to an Islamic extremist motive. The main suspect has been identified as a 25-year-old Afghan refugee.
The deportations also come a day after the German government unveiled a new security package following the deadly attack in the western city of Solingen last week.
Three people were stabbed to death in the Aug. 23 incident, which occurred during a street festival. The suspect was identified as a 26-year-old Syrian man with alleged links to the Islamic State group who was due to be deported. He turned himself in and confessed to the attack, police said.
The Solingen attack has sparked a new debate in Germany over immigration, with the country’s ruling coalition led by Chancellor Olaf Scholz facing criticism for its handling of the issue. It has also emboldened Germany’s far right ahead of key state elections this weekend.
The incident spurred Scholz’s government into action, with the chancellor declaring during a visit to Solingen earlier this week that “we will have to do everything we can to ensure that those who cannot and are not allowed to stay in Germany are repatriated and deported,” Reuters reported.
The new security measures unveiled by the government at a news conference on Thursday aim to speed up the deportation of rejected asylum seekers and undocumented immigrants, and also tighten gun laws.
Interior Minister Nancy Faeser promised during the press conference to “increase the pace of repatriations” and “take further measures to reduce irregular immigration”, while strengthening the authorities’ power to combat Islamic extremism.
Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) is eyeing victories in elections in the eastern states of Saxony and Thuringia, scheduled for Sunday. The AfD is currently leading in the polls in both states.
The anti-immigration party has seized on the Solingen attack in its political campaign, with Björn Höcke, the party’s regional leader in Thuringia, telling voters they have the choice of “Höcke or Solingen”.
Immigration has long been a hotly debated topic in Germany. Scholz’s center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) has typically advocated a more open immigration policy in Germany.
During the 2015 European migration crisis, then-Chancellor Angela Merkel, leader of the center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU), adopted an “open door” policy that saw hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing war in Syria and beyond arrive in Germany – a decision that drew both praise and criticism.
Claudia Otto, from CNN reported from Berlin and Sophie Tanno from London.
This content was originally published in Germany deports 28 Afghans after revealing new security package on the CNN Brasil website.
Source: CNN Brasil
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