Deportations from Germany | Against all reason

Once you've signed a petition on a major petition platform, you'll find a wide variety of people's petitions landing in your virtual mailbox almost every week. Very often, these are appeals to prevent a person's impending deportation or to bring someone back to Germany who has already been deported. These appeals usually emphasize how committed the person in question has been and how well they've integrated.

On August 11, a petition landed in a virtual mailbox, in which three sisters of Federal Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt (CSU) and the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) demanded the repatriation of 25-year-old Idar from Morocco. The young man most recently lived in Darmstadt – and had already signed a training contract in the spring. His training as a geriatric care assistant was scheduled to begin on September 1. So far, 28,000 people have signed the petition.

Idar's example illustrates the unequal treatment of refugees. He was a student in Ukraine and fled to Germany after the start of the Russian war of aggression. But since "real" Ukrainians weren't required to apply for asylum and immediately received citizenship benefits, so-called third-country nationals have always had an extremely precarious status.

The Moroccan had already studied medicine in Ukraine for several semesters. In addition to his native language, he is fluent in English, French, Ukrainian, and now also speaks German quite well. At Easter, he was suddenly picked up from his home, placed in deportation detention, and deported to Morocco on May 6, according to the initiator of the petition, Sylvia Raths. The authorities even offered the petitioners the prospect of allowing Idar to re-enter the country – but only if he covered the costs of the detention and the deportation flight. A sum of around 7,000 euros is mentioned. Therefore, the petitioners have also launched a fundraising appeal.

Idar could have been granted a temporary suspension of deportation under Section 60 of the Residence Act for the duration of his training. His deportation was not inevitable.

Another case: Amira, a teacher at a daycare center in Offenbach. The Afghan woman came to Germany three years ago with her two sisters and brother. They had previously received protection status in Lithuania. However, since there were no job opportunities there, all four traveled on to Germany.

Amira quickly learned German and applied to the Offenbach daycare provider "Die Krabbelstubb." She had already studied education in Afghanistan and worked as a kindergarten teacher. She was loved by the children and dedicated to her work. She was close to being officially recognized as a qualified educator.

But at the end of May, she was suddenly arrested at dawn, able to take only the bare essentials with her. Since then, she and her brother have been living in a reception camp in Lithuania. The sisters are still in Germany. A petition launched by the daycare operator to the Hessian Interior Minister Roman Poseck (CDU) and Federal Minister Dobrindt calling for Amira's return to Germany has been signed by 56,000 people.

Her colleagues are suggesting a return option via a work visa and are generally calling for "recognition of commitment, training, and lived integration in asylum and residence procedures." Meanwhile, Amira is desperate. She told Hessischer Rundfunk on the phone in June : "I've invested so much in this life in Germany. So many short nights, so much learning. I've tried so hard to be allowed to belong. And now it's all been for nothing?" She had to "flight hastily" from Afghanistan and has now "lost everything again."

There are countless other cases that demonstrate the considerable variation in decisions made even within a single family. Immigration authorities certainly have considerable leeway, especially with children, adolescents, and young adults. Nevertheless, deportations still affect children who were born or raised in Germany, and in whose education significant investments have already been made.

The consensus to deport as many people as possible prevails in most immigration authorities, and this has been the case long before former Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced his "deportation offensive." Because formal requirements for repatriation are not met in many cases, the number of deportees naturally remains so limited that the AfD and other right-wing groups can claim that the current government isn't taking action. At least as long as it adheres to minimum legal and human rights standards.

And so people whose whereabouts are known are targeted – and who often meet all the criteria of a "useful" member of society. This was also the case with a student deported to Iraq last week. Ramzi Awat Nabi had lived in Germany for seven years, passed his Abitur with an average grade of 1.5, and was studying building and energy technology in Stuttgart. He planned to complete his bachelor's degree next year. Now, in the middle of the night, he was arrested in his room in the Stuttgart-Vaihingen student residence and deported to Baghdad. The reason: The immigration authorities had doubts about his identity, despite having a valid passport.

According to Ramzi Awat Nabi's lawyer, Stefan Weidner, his client's only option in the foreseeable future is likely to be to re-enter the country with a student visa. In that case, the 24-year-old would have to pay the costs of his deportation.

Most deported people, meanwhile, have no one to support them or collect donations. No one knows what they are going through. However, the cases that are becoming known show that these measures hardly serve the stated goal of making Germany safer or relieving the burden on municipalities.

But they cost a lot of money, and the costs continue to rise dramatically with the construction of new detention centers. For example, the Mitteldeutsche Zeitung reported last week that the detention center planned by Saxony-Anhalt in Volkstedt will be many times more expensive than planned. The state government estimates construction costs at €37.4 million. The original estimate was €4 million.