The German leftist coalition government has rejected calls by conservatives to speed up deportations and do more to reduce illegal immigrant arrivals.
The German centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its sister party, the Bavarian Christian Social Union (CSU) attempted to pass a motion in the German parliament asking the leftist federal government to reduce illegal immigrant arrivals.
However, the coalition of the Social Democrats (SPD), the Greens and the libertarian Free Democrats (FDP) along with the Left Party, voted against the proposal, with SPD member Helge Lindh criticising the motion for coming shortly after dozens of migrants had died in a shipwreck off the Italian coast, the European Union-funded website InfoMigrants reports.
Thorsten Frei, a member of the CDU, slammed the leftist coalition saying the current policy sends a bad message, saying, “Whoever has made it to Germany once can also stay here.”
Frei also commented on an 11-page position paper on immigration drafted by the CDU and CSU on immigration that calls for clearer rules on asylum seekers and skilled immigrants and demands the creation of a single new authority on immigration.
“Anyone who does not receive a right of residence at the end of the procedure must leave the country. We have to enforce this consistently, otherwise, we could save ourselves the procedure,” he said.
“No trade facilitation, no visas and no development aid for states that do not fulfil their obligation under international law to take back their own citizens,” he added.
Germany has struggled with deportations of illegal immigrants and failed asylum seekers for years. A report from over the weekend revealed that while the country only managed to carry out 13,000 deportations last year, while a further 23,000 attempts failed.
Alexander Throm, a member of the CDU in the Bundestag and domestic policy spokesman, stated, “Germany is in the worst migration crisis since 2016. A successful repatriation policy must be a priority at the federal and state level.”
“Not every person who comes to us can stay. We are launching a repatriation offensive to implement departures more consistently, in particular the deportation of offenders and those who pose a threat,” he added.
As of the end of last year, the German Central Register of Foreigners claimed that over 304,000 people were subject to a deportation order, with 248,145 allowed to remain in the country under the tolerated stay permit.
Follow Chris Tomlinson on Twitter at @TomlinsonCJ or email at ctomlinson(at)breitbart.com.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.