CDU slows down immigration
Faeser defends deportations and hopes for skilled workers
November 30, 2023, 12:02 p.m
Listen to article
This audio version was artificially generated. More info | Send feedback
In the migration debate, Interior Minister Faeser defends her tough stance on deportations. This would have to take place “quickly and reliably”. But the country is also dependent on foreign skilled workers. Faeser hopes that they could come in more numbers thanks to the new immigration law.
Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser has defended her deportation law as a prerequisite for social acceptance of migration. “Anyone who has no right to stay must leave Germany again,” she said in the Bundestag during the first reading of the draft law. “We must be able to enforce this principle – otherwise we will harm our community.”
Germany has made an astonishing development, emphasized Faeser: from a nation that caused two world wars to a country where people sought protection. “In order for us to be this country, we also need clear rules and laws.” This means that those who do not have the right to remain must leave the country again – “quickly and reliably”. This is a prerequisite for migration to be recognized in society.
In practice, there were always difficulties, said the minister. The draft law to improve returns would now create the necessary conditions to consistently implement expulsions and returns.
Smugglers should leave Germany more quickly
In particular, the planned law provides for extended detention options for those subject to deportation and more rights for the police during searches. The aim is also to speed up the deportation of smugglers. With the law, the federal government is reacting to the significantly increased number of asylum seekers in Germany and the dwindling accommodation options for refugees in many municipalities.
Even before the first discussion in the Bundestag, Faeser was confident that the reform of naturalization law would bring more foreign skilled workers to Germany. The modernization of nationality law is “a decisive key to competitiveness,” Faeser told the “Handelsblatt”. “We will only attract the best minds if they can become a full part of our society in the foreseeable future, with all democratic rights.”
“Highly qualified people will choose Germany above all if we give them the prospect of finding a complete home for themselves and their families here,” said Faeser. In particular, the reform is intended to shorten naturalization periods and make dual citizenship possible in principle.
Union criticizes the timing of the immigration law
The Union has major concerns. The Prime Minister of Hesse, Boris Rhein, told the “Handelsblatt”: “The federal government would be well advised to postpone the reform of nationality law.” The timing of the project is wrong. “The traffic light government is questioning a social consensus in a situation in which irregular migration is clearly too high – and is unnecessarily setting new incentives for migration.”
Rhein demanded a “clear commitment to Israel” before any naturalization. Faeser appeared open to further specifying the criteria for obtaining a German passport in the parliamentary process. However, the reform already provides for “strict standards” that exclude naturalization for those who would deny Israel’s right to exist.
The draft law specifies the previously required commitment to the free democratic basic order. It makes it clear that “anti-Semitic, racist, xenophobic or other inhumanely motivated acts” are incompatible with the basic law’s guarantee of human dignity. In principle, only those who can support themselves and dependent family members from their own resources should receive German citizenship.