Not every migrant and asylum seeker that arrives in Germany is allowed to stay under the current rules, but not everyone who is not allowed to stay is sent home from the country, despite being issued with a notice to leave. That is the conundrum facing the German and many other governments around the world.

It is why the German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser proposed lengthening the period of pre-deportation detention (or departure custody, in German "Ausreisegewahrsam") from the current ten days to 28 days, or four weeks. By lengthening the detention period the German authorities would have more time to prepare for deportation, Faeser said at a press conference on August 2.

In the press statement, Faeser also called for a better exchange of data regarding the central register of migrants and asylum seekers. The proposals come following meetings with Germany’s local authorities which took place in February and May this year.

Also read: Explainer: Who gets taken into deportation detention in Germany?

Search and detention

The new draft law proposes making returns and deportations easier overall and making sure that anyone who has committed a crime can be deported when it is possible to do so. The law also hopes to extend search powers so that anyone who has been issued with a deportation order can actually be found when the time comes for them to leave Germany.

Another problem the German authorities have faced is that by issuing people with a notice to leave the country, they have given many people time to disappear from the accommodation or even region where they were staying. They hope to follow up notices to leave with controls over how far and where people might be allowed to travel prior to their deportation.

According to the German press agency dpa, Faeser also hopes that any challenge to a deportation order will not hold up the process of that deportation.

Also read: Germany to extend deportation ban on Iranian nationals

Lengthy discussions ahead

In its press statement, the German Interior Ministry stated that the proposals would now start a lengthy discussion process with all German municipalities, federal states and regions so that they could make sure that the laws in the final draft would work and help make the returns and deportation process more effective.

By August 3, the proposals were already being criticized, even within Faeser’s own SPD (Social Democrats) party, as well as from coalition partners the Greens and the Liberals (FDP). German Green MP Filiz Polat told the German news agency dpa "isolation and spreading fear have nothing to do with providing care, reception facilities, welfare and integration for those who are in need of protection."

Polat went on to criticize the proposals to lengthen detention periods, saying they would seriously impinge on Germany’s constitutional guarantees on liberty. "It is time to stop campaigning to win the regional elections in [the federal state of] Hessen and get back to implementing the agreements the coalition already has in place regarding employment and work." (Faeser is the top candidate on the SPD's Hessen voting list).

Also read: European migration deal postponed amid disagreement

Proposals are 'first step' but more is needed

Others have responded more positively to Faeser’s proposals. Gerd Landsberg, CEO of the Association of German Cities and Municipalities (Deutsche Städte und Gemeindebund), told the Funke Mediengruppe on Thursday that the proposals could be seen as a "first step" but "would not be enough on their own." Landsberg added that while a longer period of deportation detention could be welcomed, the laws regarding residence law also needed to be looked at in detail.

Some suggested that the list of countries considered "safe" for deportation and returns needed to be widened. Faster decisions in the asylum process would also be welcomed, reported dpa. For the deputy leader of the main opposition party CDU / CSU Andrea Lindholz, however, Faeser’s proposals are "too little too late."

Also read: Germany halts deportation of Kurdish couple evicted from church asylum

Lindholz expressed disdain, according to dpa, that it had taken from May until August for the interior minister to come forward with just a new round of proposals for a draft law and said it indicated Faeser was bordering on being seen as neglecting her work.

The CDU’s General Secretary Carsten Linneman told the German right-leaning newspaper Die Welt that the government, in his opinion, should get down to negotiations after months of talking.

Police union calls for more powers for police

Heiko Teggatz, deputy head of the German Police Union (Deutschen Polizeigewerkschaft (DpolG), accused the government of providing window dressing. He said instead police forces needed to have the powers to stop migrants who have already started their asylum processes in other EU countries directly at the border and make sure they don’t enter Germany. "It is through these borders that lots of migrants come who have absolutely no possibility of remaining in Germany," added Teggatz.

However he added that currently, Germany was lacking space to detain people who needed to be returned or deported.

Also read: Nearly 50,000 migrants apply under German residence law

Dirk Wiese from the SPD faction in parliament said he hoped the new draft proposals would help the authorities in their work. He pointed out that in 2022, Germany managed to send back almost 13,000 people who didn’t have the right to stay in Germany.

However, according to the central register for foreigners, at the end of 2022, there were around 304,000 people who had been given a notice to leave the country, 248,000 of those were in possession of a so-called Duldung, a "toleration" paper allowing the holder to stay in the country for various reasons despite not qualifying for either full protection or residency.

According to dpa, some of those 304,000 people who are classed as "returnable" include asylum seekers who have had their claims rejected, but also tourists, employees and foreign students whose visas or residency permits have expired. Those who are in possession of a Duldung or toleration order are people who should be returnable but can’t be returned for various reasons, including that they don’t possess a passport, they are ill, they are a minor or they have some kind of other residency permit allowing them to stay for a certain duration.

With dpa, KNA, EPD