On deportations and other illusions – Christoph Hickmann and Martin Knobbe in conversation the German Chancellor (Der Spiegel):

‘DER SPIEGEL: Mr. Chancellor, why do you announce plans that you don’t then implement? Scholz: I do implement most of the things I intend to. I could spend hours naming examples, even if I am certain you would accuse me of the opposite.
DER SPIEGEL: We interviewed you here around 10 months ago. You said at the time : "We must finally deport on a large scale those who have no right to stay in Germany.” Thus far, we have seen basically none of that.
Scholz: Perhaps you just have to look more closely. A lot has happened. In a fierce political battle, I pushed through things that hadn’t been possible for several years. A couple of examples: The police is now allowed to look through the entirety of a refugee facility on the search for someone who has been assigned for deportation – it used to be the case that they were only allowed to look in that person’s room. Those who are slated for deportation may now be placed in detention for four weeks and not just 10 days. Asylum applicants now receive the reduced benefits allowed by the Asylum-Seekers’ Benefits Act for a longer period of time. We have boosted controls at Germany’s borders. And all of that has had an effect: This year, the number of asylum applications in Germany has fallen by a fifth. And the number of deportations has also risen…’

(…)

‘DER SPIEGEL: The number of deportations was higher before the coronavirus pandemic than it is currently. Where do your personal failures lie? Scholz: I could make it easy on myself and just say: Deportations are the responsibility of the states. But I don’t count myself among the cowardly politicians. As German chancellor, I also focus on such issues – in numerous meetings with state governors and with practical improvements.’

(…)

‘DER SPIEGEL: A man from Syria stabbed three people to death in Solingen even though he was supposed to have been deported to Bulgaria in June 2023. How is such a thing possible? Scholz: That was a terrible crime. I spoke for a long time on Monday with women and men who were at the city festival and provided first aid. Some applied pressure to the wounds of the injured until the paramedics arrived. Others had to watch helplessly as people died. You can’t forget such images. For me, all of these people who provided assistance are heroes. That’s Germany. That’s who we are. We are there for each other in times of need. We can hold that up to all those who seek to sow hatred and discord and want to drive us apart.’

(…)

‘DER SPIEGEL: The suspected perpetrator in Solingen should have had his asylum request reviewed in Bulgaria, where he was first registered. That is what the so-called Dublin Regulation envisions, the applicable law. But nobody adheres to it.
Scholz: The Dublin system hasn’t worked for quite some time, we can’t ignore that fact. That is why we just created a new solidarity mechanism, the Common European Asylum System, the CEAS. In the future, many more asylum decisions will be made quickly right at the European Union’s external borders. We are nevertheless engage in tough talks with our neighbors when they, for example, simply wave asylum applicants through to us. And there are some peculiarities. For example, we are generally not allowed to send back women and men who have already received asylum in Greece, because they don’t receive sufficient support once their asylum applications have been approved. That is an actual ruling by German courts. Did you know that?’

(…)

‘Scholz: Without hardworking women and men from abroad, Germany would never have achieved such prosperity. That was true in the past and will be even more true in the future. We need immigration, which is why we, as a government, have created the necessary conditions with the new citizenship law and immigration law. What we cannot accept is the irregular migration from people who have no right to asylum. We have the right to choose who may come to us and who may not.’

Read the article here.

Deportations are utterly ineffective. Those who are dealing with these deportations know about this. Read my book about refugees, see here. Till now, only in Dutch.

Also, some of the questions Der Spiegel was asking are slightly abhorrent, or just naïve.

Like” ‘A man from Syria stabbed three people to death in Solingen even though he was supposed to have been deported to Bulgaria in June 2023. How is such a thing possible?’

Well, this is possible because Germany is not a totalitarian state.

This man was supposed to be sent to Bulgaria because he first applied for asylum there.

You cannot incarcerate people for crimes they have not committed yet, at least not if you take the rule of law seriously.

Citizens should get used to the fact that a risk-free society doesn’t exist. A weekly like Der Spiegel should try to sound a bit less populist.

We have the right to choose who can come and who cannot come. The survival of the fittest refugee and the fittest migration worker.