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In the first year of the corona crisis, deportations from Germany fell by more than half.

Only 10,800 of the around 281,000 foreigners required to leave the country could be deported in 2020, according to a response from the Federal Ministry of the Interior to a request from AfD internal politician Martin Hess.

WELT has the paper.

In the previous year 2019 there were still 22,097 repatriations.

The number of deportations has been declining since 2016, when it was 25,375.

According to the answer from the Interior Ministry, significantly more deportation attempts were canceled in the last phase in 2020 than could be carried out: namely 16,921 of the attempts already registered with the Federal Police were "canceled before execution".

The reasons for this were "essentially that the respective competent state authority canceled the deportation or that the federal state did not transfer it to the federal government".

In addition, “returns had to be broken off during the execution process because those to be returned resisted, appealed, missing travel documents or other reasons that made a return impossible,” according to the ministry.

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The total of 10,800 deportations already includes Dublin transfers within the Schengen area: 2,953 asylum seekers who traveled on to Germany without permission were returned to the state responsible for them.

The most important destination country was France with 712 Dublin transfers.

According to the Interior Ministry WELT, there were only four transfers to Greece, the most important EU transit country in recent years, in 2020 - and thus even fewer than in each of the previous three years.

And in the future, the deportations there will be even more difficult:

The North Rhine-Westphalian Higher Administrative Court in Münster ruled on Tuesday that refugees who have already been recognized in Greece cannot currently be deported there because they face “the serious risk of inhuman and degrading treatment”.

At the moment, a "considerable number" of those entitled to protection are homeless there.

Jobs are also difficult to find for refugees.

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The decision was made in the case of two plaintiffs from Eritrea and Syria who had received a title of protection in Greece.

The Federal Office for Migration and Refugees had therefore rejected the asylum applications of the two plaintiffs as inadmissible and threatened to deport them to Greece.

The administrative courts in Arnsberg and Düsseldorf dismissed two lawsuits against this decision, whereupon the asylum seekers successfully took action before the Higher Administrative Court.

An appeal against the judgment was not allowed - however, a complaint can be lodged in the last instance, namely before the Federal Administrative Court.

Such a step is currently being examined, as announced by the Federal Ministry of the Interior, which is superordinate to the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees.

The judgment is not binding for other higher administrative courts, but it sends out an important signal for them and for the lower administrative courts.

"Judgment equals a request to treat people badly"

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The Federal Ministry of the Interior also stated that it would adhere to the goal of “enabling transfers to Greece and effectively curbing this secondary movement.

This requires an improvement in the living conditions of migrants in Greece. ”The ministry is“ working on various levels to improve the accommodation situation.

In addition to the many support services that Germany is already making available to Greece ”, the Ministry is“ in close contact with Greece and the European Commission on this issue ”.

Alexander Throm, Union Chairman in the Interior Committee, criticizes: “The decision of the Higher Administrative Court has taken the entire Dublin system to the point of absurdity.

The verdict means in plain language: Everyone who makes it from Greece to Germany gets a German asylum procedure and remains under German jurisdiction. ”With this stipulation,“ all efforts for a new EU asylum system would be torpedoed, ”said the CDU politician.

"The verdict is tantamount to calling on Greece and other European countries to treat the people badly so that they can move on without permission and cannot be brought back."

In autumn, WELT AM SONNTAG had already reported on increased entries by recognized refugees from Greece who are again applying for asylum in Germany.

According to an internal report by the Joint Analysis and Strategy Center for Illegal Migration, “there has been a significant increase in secondary air movements from Greece to Germany since mid-June 2020”.

In addition to the corona measures that were relaxed in the summer, the background is that the Greek government has been enforcing the regulation that came into force in January since June, "according to which recognized refugees are no longer allowed to stay in their previously provided accommodation".

Likewise, "the Greek migration authority issued more travel documents for refugees".

The report points out that with their recognition, refugees simultaneously receive a residence permit including the right to travel within the Schengen area, which entitles them to legal entry via airports or land borders.

According to internal assessments from Berlin security circles, another problematic phenomenon regarding unauthorized further migration from Greece has been apparent since the end of 2018.

Most important countries of origin: Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq and Turkey

Some refugees recognized there fly to Germany - which is permitted for short stays of up to 90 days per half-year according to the current legal situation - and then apply for asylum under a false identity.

They disposed of their Greek documents before arriving at the airport.

According to the Berlin security groups, fighting the problem is made even more difficult.

The Eurodac registrations of refugees recognized in Greece who applied for asylum in Germany under a false identity were either deleted after recognition in Greece or they were no longer visible to other EU countries.

There are no official figures on the magnitude of this phenomenon.

What can be said: Among the 103,000 first-time asylum applications that were made in Germany despite the Corona crisis in 2020, the most important countries of origin were Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq and Turkey, all of them nationalities, who mainly came via Greece.