Municipalities call for “task force” for more deportations

The Association of Towns and Municipalities has called for more deportations in the migration debate and urged the federal government to set up a “task force”. It is right to step up efforts to ensure that people without a right of residence in their countries of origin are resellable, said CEO André Berghegger to the “Rheinische Post”A “deportation task force” would, he said, speed up the process and make it more efficient. Up to now, deportations have been the responsibility of the states, even if the states involve the federal police in carrying them out.

Berghegger said it was “regrettable and incomprehensible” that the municipalities were not directly involved in the migration consultations. They should be at the table when decisions are made about migration and security. The talks between the government, opposition and states are scheduled for Tuesday. The municipalities had already insisted on their involvement at the migration summit last Tuesday.

The traffic light coalition has decided to tighten immigration laws several times, for example easing deportations at the beginning of the year. After the suspected Islamist-motivated knife attack in Solingen that left three people dead and eight injured, it quickly presented a “security package” with further measures.

The police union (GdP), however, was open to turning away asylum seekers at the borders – under one condition. “If it can be regulated in such a way that our colleagues who would then have to carry out the measures do not subsequently face any legal problems, it would be a measure that could definitely be supported,” the GdP chairman for the Federal Police told the newspaper.

Roßkopf referred to a “fierce legal discussion” about the Union’s demands and explained that legal certainty was a basic requirement for the officers and civil servants, “but always under the aspect that the Federal Police is already working at its limits and would not be able to cope with any further burden in the long term.”