Security package to Solingen
NRW strengthens police powers and tightens deportation rules
11.09.2024, 13:33
The CDU and the Greens have agreed on a major security package in North Rhine-Westphalia. It contains dozens of measures designed to simplify the search for radical Islamists and speed up deportations.
Almost three weeks after the terrorist attack in Solingen, the black-green coalition government in North Rhine-Westphalia has agreed on a comprehensive security package. It provides for more police powers and stricter deportation rules. “We are following our words with actions,” said NRW Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst in the state parliament. “We will expand the powers of our security authorities.”
The reform package consists of dozens of measures such as strengthening the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, increasing surveillance of potential extremists and improving data sharing between authorities. Wüst spoke of a double turning point, because after the Solingen attack, a right-wing extremist party became the strongest force in a state parliament for the first time. The state cabinet approved the security package on Tuesday. It is the most comprehensive security and migration package in the history of North Rhine-Westphalia, said Wüst.
The security package in detail
Among other things, investigators are to be given more rights in the search for radical Islamists on the Internet, for which artificial intelligence is also to be used. The powers of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution in telecommunications surveillance are to be strengthened. For example, it is to be given access to encrypted messenger services.
NRW also wants to use Federal Council initiatives to promote a range of measures such as data retention. This also includes improving the so-called Dublin system and simplifying the deportation of criminals and terrorists and their supporters.
Measures against irregular migration
In NRW, a central overview of people subject to deportation is to be introduced and the exchange of data between the authorities is to be made easier. People from safe countries of origin are to remain in reception centers indefinitely until a decision is made on their asylum application. Three additional chambers for asylum procedures are to be set up at the administrative courts. NRW is also planning a second deportation prison.
In addition, the fight against Islamist radicalisation of young people is to be strengthened through a series of preventive measures.
Attack in Solingen
On August 23, a man killed three people with a knife and injured eight others at a town festival in Solingen. The suspected perpetrator, a 26-year-old Syrian, is in custody. He was actually supposed to have been deported last year, but this failed. The terrorist group Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack.
Wüst described the knife attack in Solingen as a “turning point” in a special plenary session. The individual right to asylum remains preserved in Germany and is not called into question. However, hundreds of thousands of people who have come to Germany have no right to asylum.
In recent days, Interior Minister Herbert Reul and Refugee Minister Josefine Paul have already presented initial measures. Reul ordered more police presence and identity checks at folk festivals. Paul tightened the control and supervisory duties of the local and central immigration authorities when repatriating rejected asylum seekers.