Scholz vows to toughen up German deportation rules after attacks
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Germany will tighten its deportation rules so that the glorification of terrorist offences is grounds for deportation, Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Thursday after a series of attacks prompted calls for a harder line on migration policy.
“Anyone who glorifies terrorism is against all our values and should be deported,” Scholz told the Bundestag lower house of parliament, adding the interior ministry was working to enable the deportation of criminals and dangerous migrants back to Afghanistan.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Thursday morning addressed the lower house of parliament, the Bundestag, in a statement on national security.
Addressing the situation, Scholz said, “even though they are not related, they all concern us.”
Deportations front and center for Germans at home
Scholz began by addressing the recent death of a German police officer who was stabbed by a 25-year-old Afghan national last week, saying the tragedy had, “struck us all in the heart.”
He then went on to call out what he described as a misanthropic ideology: “radical islam… terrorism… wants to rob us of our freedom. Without those freedoms we have no democracy.”
Speaking of the family, friends and above all the collagues of the fallen officer, Scholz said: “We stand with you. We stand behind our police.”
He said laws against such violence must be made tougher and that those who kill cops must be punished with all severity.
Scholz was cclear that freedom from fear applied to all in Germany, saying, “That goes for those who have always lived here as well as those who recently arrived. Immigrants are part of our society, we will not allow ourselves to be divided.”
Referencing recent news of concern about whether Germany’s national football team has too many non-white players, he was indignant, saying, “they are all Germans, they are all our boys.”
He then addressd the contentious issue of migrant deportations. Saying he was “disgusted that someone seeking shelter in Germany would commit crimes [as in the stabbing attack in Mannheim]” adding that such individuals must be deported.
The issue of whether or not Germany should resume deportations to countries such as Afghanistan and Syria has been hotly debated, with those on the left arguing against, and those on the right arguing for.
Scholz acknowledged such concerns but nevertheless promised to strengthen laws allowing the swift deportation of criminal migrants to countries previously deemed unsafe, saying, “National security weighs heavier than the rights of individual asylum seekers.”
He also highlighted the need for more police as well as vowing to deny known Islamists or antisemites German passport, as well as pledging a “zero tolerance” stance when it came to deporting such individuals.
