Even without a criminal offense
Faeser wants to make it easier for clan members to be deported
08/06/2023, 7:50 p.m
As early as June, Interior Minister Nancy Faeser announced that she wanted to forge an “alliance against clans”. Now the first step seems to have been taken: According to a draft, the possibility of repatriation should also exist if no crimes have been committed.
In a discussion paper, Nancy Faeser’s Federal Ministry of the Interior proposes easier deportations of people from so-called clan structures. According to the proposal, members of organized crime communities could in future be deported “regardless of a criminal conviction”.
A spokeswoman for the ministry told the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” that the aim of the proposal was “to be able to more easily deport members of so-called clan structures in the future”. The proposal is part of a draft discussion that was published on Thursday and that the ministry developed after discussions with the federal states and local authorities.
According to the paper, the proposed law change could affect people who the ministry believes belong or have belonged to a criminal organization. This could apply regardless of whether they themselves have committed a criminal offense or have become aware of significant legal violations. A comparable regulation has so far existed for members of an association that supports terrorism, as the ministry explains in the paper.
Increase the pace of deportations
The background to the planned change is a meeting between the federal and state governments in May of this year. The spokeswoman emphasized that the clan proposal did not come from the traffic light coalition, but from some federal states. “Whether such a regulation is proportionate and the regulation goal can be achieved without unwanted side effects should now be discussed in detail with the federal states and municipal umbrella organizations are discussed.”
The paper also states that the pace of deportations from Germany should be increased. According to the report, detention should be significantly expanded. This means that foreigners can be locked up as a preventative measure, regardless of the risk of absconding, in order to prepare for their deportation. This was previously only allowed for a maximum of ten days and is now to be extended to 28 days.
Faeser had already announced in June that he wanted to forge an “alliance against clans”. Her cabinet colleague from the FDP, Justice Minister Marco Buschmann, added: “We also have to fight specific crimes by the clans in unconventional ways” – for example with the confiscation of assets, even before there is a final guilty verdict.