The 28 Afghan citizens who have committed offenses in Germany boarded the Boeing 787 of Qatar Airways from Leipzig/Halle Airport bound for Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan. Two years after the Taliban seized power and the Berlin-Kabul diplomatic relations have since been severed, the first “deportation flight” is a fact. The acceleration of deportations was already in the plans of the Solz government, but the bureaucratic obstacles were many, as were the delays. The terrorist attack by the Islamic State last Friday forced a change of course and an acceleration of procedures.

“Anyone who commits crimes will not be able to stay in Germany,” said Chancellor Scholz from eastern Germany, describing the deportations as a clear message to would-be criminals. As the chancellor’s representative, Steffen Hempstreit, said in the government briefing, today’s flight had been prepared for a long time, with care and “discretion”, while Germany had “requested support from its regional partners” for a long time. He also emphasized that Germany’s security interest exceeds that of protecting criminals or those deemed dangerous for committing crimes.

According to government sources, Germany did not negotiate directly with their regime Talibanbut through Qatar, which reportedly played a mediating role.

New German “security package”

In the meantime, Chancellor Olaf Solz and Minister of the Interior Nancy Feser, both Social Democrats, are promoting the new “security package” that they intend to pass through the parliament immediately with a double goal: on the one hand, to quickly deal with irregular immigration and speed up deportations and on the other hand dealing with terrorism and the new form of knife crime.

The right to stay in the country after applying for asylum will now be granted after stricter procedures and under stricter conditions. As for benefits, allowances and other financial facilities, they will be reduced and possibly cut for those asylum seekers who are formally under the jurisdiction of other EU member states.

At the same time, the government’s goal is to remove the obstacles to deportations to Syria and Afghanistan, as evidenced today. Direct expulsions will obviously be foreseen for cases of committing crimes, even of lower gravity. The German government and states are also looking at more efficient ways of returning asylum seekers to the EU countries of first entry under the Dublin process.

Private home country travel under the microscope

Even private trips to the homelands of those who have received refugee status or people who have received subsidiary protection will come under the microscope of the German authorities, since it will be examined whether it is indeed a confirmed fulfillment of a serious e.g. family obligation, such as a relative’s funeral.

From there, the German government is considering the use of artificial intelligence for biometric facial recognition with the aim of easier identification of suspects of committing crimes, but also the establishment of a special group to prevent and deal with Islamic terrorism with an emphasis on the Internet, but also in Islamic media. radicalization of Islamists, such as TikTok.

Among the new measures under discussion is to address the use of knives as a means of attack and more broadly the context of gun ownership in Germany.