Germany to remove 'blanket halt' on Syrian deportations after deadly knife attack

Germany’s Interior Ministry on December 11 announced that Syrian immigrants convicted of serious crimes such as terrorism will now be deported as the blanket halt on deportation is due to expire by the end of 2020. This comes as ministers of at least 16 states in Germany denied another extension on the deportation ban for the upcoming year, alleging that the deportation ban ‘sent the wrong signal’ and the individuals that are involved in serious criminal activities must be sent back to their homeland country. 

According to sources of AP, Germany’s Federal Interior Minister Horst Seehofer called for Chancellor Angela Merkel to review the policy after a Syrian man was charged for committing a deadly knife attack in the city of Dresden. Several other ministers supported Seehofer in making amendments to the controversial policy citing security risks and national threats due to the massive refugee influx from the war-torn and terror compromised middle eastern countries. Germany and other European countries, including France, allowed hundreds of thousands of undocumented refugees in the countries as they fled in mass exodus escaping the conflict in the year 2015-16. The German security forces, meanwhile, also agreed that it was time to lift blanket protections to be able to deport the refugees indulging in criminal behaviour. 

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Not a 'shelter for terrorists'

State secretary at the Interior Ministry, Hans-Georg Engelke, told German broadcaster DW that the ban on deportations (to Syria) will expire at the end of this year, 2020, adding that those who commit crimes or pursued terrorism to do serious harm to the state and German population should and will have to leave. He stressed that Germany will not be a shelter for terrorists and those that pose internal security threats. The dilution of the law would allow the German courts to send the perpetrators on trial and decide which Syrian asylum seekers will need to be deported. Germany has registered more than 1.5 million refugees leading to the European migrant crisis as the country had done billions of euros spending for their settlement. 

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(image Credit: AP)