Germany has passed a new set of laws concerning the deportation, monitoring and access to personal data of asylum seekers. Here is a list of the most important changes.
- Officials will be able to detain
migrants due for deportation for 10 days rather than four
- Failed asylum seekers, especially
those who pose a threat to security will be detained.
The detention will be imposed even if the deportation of the migrant cannot be
implemented within the next three months. The migrants can also be detained in
normal prisons, which was not the case until now
- Failed asylum seekers, who pose a
security threat, could be monitored by officials through electronic ankle bands
- Asylum seekers who have given
authorities wrong information about their identity in order to avoid
deportation will see their freedom of movement strictly limited and be able to
stay only in officially designated places. Asylum seekers with no chance of
staying in Germany will be able to stay for up to two years in refugee
reception centers
- Officials of the Federal Office for
Migration and Refugees (BAMF) will be able to access data on refugees'
smartphones for information about the identity and origin of the migrants
- In the future, officials will be able to
withdraw German passports of Jihadists with double citizenship, in order to
make their travel out of the country difficult
- Unaccompanied minors: Youth welfare offices will, from now on, have to apply for asylum for unaccompanied minors. This was not the case until now because officials thought the minors wouldn't be able to justify why they left their countries.
According to official statistics, around 215,000 migrants slated for deportation were living in Germany at the end of February 2017.
For more information about the current Asylum regulations in Germany, see the BAMF homepage.