Germany is deporting 28 Afghan criminals to their homeland. This is good news, especially for all those who portray the state as powerless and incapable of taking action.
It is possible: Germany has deported 28 Afghan criminals to their homeland. Even if 28 people are not a big number, there is an important signal, an important symbol: the German state is still able to act, still in a position to send people home who have no right to stay here. And who are not wanted here because of their serious criminal behavior.
Whether you side with the Greens or the CSU on asylum policy, there will always be people who are not entitled to humanitarian residency. And those who are not allowed to stay must leave Germany. This is where things start to get complicated. Germany has been discussing the problems for years. For example, the countries of origin must be prepared to take their citizens back. But they often are not.
It would be fatal if politicians were to be satisfied with this and sit back and do nothing. Failed deportations should not be followed by a shrug of the shoulders, a resigned “it just can’t be done”. Yes, it is difficult, but that is precisely the job of government politicians: to solve difficult tasks. The lower levels of the state are responsible for administration. And as an RTL/ntv survey shows: almost all respondents in Germany are calling for criminals from Syria and Afghanistan to be deported too. This feeling cannot be ignored.
Up to the task?
The issue of migration is a priority for many people. It decides elections. And even more: It also decides the acceptance of our free democracy. The question has long been whether the state is even up to the task of managing immigration.
In order for people to accept immigration and recognize its advantages, it must work to send home those who are not allowed to stay. This is especially true for criminals. The federal government can therefore congratulate itself on having managed to organize this deportation flight. The reasoning is correct: the security interests of the people in this country are more important than the dangers that these convicted criminals may face in Afghanistan.
The German government had to negotiate with the Taliban via Qatar as an intermediary. That is not nice. Every direct and indirect contact increases the status of the Islamist terrorist group. In addition, it is not yet known what the extremists in Kabul will receive in return. It is quite possible that this price will be considered too high once all the facts are known. But it is also true that completely clean solutions that only have advantages are rare. Especially in politics.
Good timing
What would be the alternative? The alternative would be the resigned “It just doesn’t work”. After the murders in Solingen and Mannheim and after Germany took in well over 300,000 asylum seekers and numerous Ukrainians last year, that would not be enough. The federal government had to prove that it was still able to act. This is no longer about individuals and parties, a single minister or the traffic light coalition as a whole. The question is whether the German state can still enforce its own rules.
The timing is also right, so soon after the murders in Solingen. That is of course a coincidence. The preparations for the flight took much longer. The people of Saxony and Thuringia are also likely to perceive the signal that this sends. On Sunday they will elect new state parliaments. And there have probably rarely been state election campaigns in which federal issues have dominated so much. One of them: immigration and failed deportations. So the deportation flight to Kabul strengthens those people who are standing in the pedestrian zones these days and trying to convince people of a basic attitude: Democrats can tackle and solve the problems of this country.