Germany steps up deportations of failed asylum applicants

Not everyone who reaches Germany and claims asylum is granted entry.

By the end of November this year, 18,363 deportations took place of individuals whose asylum applications had been denied, according to documents from the country’s Interior Ministry.

The number is nearly double that which took place in 2014. Then there were 10,844 deportations during the full year.

Even so, there are more than a million asylum applications recorded for the whole country.

It is the 16 federal states which have responsibility for processing the applications in their areas. Some states have been able to address the situation more quickly than others.

Bavaria in the south deported 3,643 people this year compared to 1,007 in 2014, a three-fold increase. Some were deported voluntarily while others were forcibly deported.

Bavaria is the point of entry for most asylum-seekers and the conservative government there, keen on allying voters’ fears, has been vocal about the need to contain the number of refugees and asylum seekers.

In September this year it opened a special centre for those unlikely to get asylum. The facility has about 850 occupants, nearly all from Albania, followed by Kosovo, Serbia, Bosnia and Macedonia.

Most of these arrivals cited economic hardship as the reason for their journey. German authorities believe people from these countries are not likely to face the kind of political or religious persecution that would warrant asylum.

The state of Hesse, whose largest city is Frankfurt, was equally active in tripling the number of deportations which went from 829 last year to 2,306 this year.

Interior Ministry spokesman Johannes Dimroth said, unlike in previous years, none of Germany's states have suspended deportations over the winter. He added that federal authorities also see "no place for a halt to deportations."

Last week Chancellor Angela Merkel asked her party to back her refugee policy but to temper that with a commitment to remove those denied asylum, saying that the country must prioritize those in greatest need.

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