Forty-three men have been returned to their home country Iraq from Germany via a charter flight. All those affected were reportedly obliged to leave the country, with some having a criminal record.
In the first such flight since February, 43 Iraqi nationals were deported from Germany to Iraq's capital Baghdad on Tuesday (July 22).
That's according to news agency dpa citing a confirmation from the German Interior Ministry.
Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt told the Bild tabloid that the flight was part of his new migration policy.
"We are working on partnerships to increase deportations and are expanding repatriation cooperation," the minister said.
According to authorities in the state of Thuringia, all 43 Iraqi nationals aboard the flight, which departed shortly before 11 am from the eastern city of Leipzig, were required to leave the country.
The deportees were living in seven states and were exclusively single men, some of whom with a criminal record, news agency AFP reported citing information from the same authorities.
Tuesday's deportation to Iraq came on the heels of last week's deportation of 81 Afghan nationals, who were reportedly all convicted of criminal offenses. It was the first deportation flight to the Central Asian country under Germany's new government, which took office in May.
Germany had resumed deporting Afghan nationals more than ten months ago, for the first time since the Taliban regained power in 2021.
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Second deportation flight to Iraq this year
A photographer from dpa described how police at Leipzig airport prepared the flight: Passengers were taken to the plane in police vehicles and two large airport buses, and officers walked each passenger individually up the stairs onto the aircraft.
After landing in Baghdad, the deportees first went through various immigration formalities, dpa reported citing airport sources, adding that the flight was subject to strict security protocols in Iraq. It was initially unclear where the men would go after entering Iraq.
According to the Interior Ministry, the vast majority of the 816 Iraqis who were deported from Germany last year were taken directly to their home country, while some were deported to other EU countries to have their asylum applications processed.
Tuesday's deportation flight coincided with the EU interior ministers' meeting in Copenhagen where they discussed European migration and security policy, including the deportation of rejected asylum seekers and ways to curb irregular migration.
The deportation flight was the second one of its kind this year. In February, 47 people were deported from the northern German city of Hanover to Iraq.
Read AlsoMigration policy to tighten following European Interior Minister summit in Germany
Tense security situation
The security situation in Iraq remains tense after decades of war and political unrest. Although there is currently no major fighting, dpa reported, attacks by Iranian-backed militias and other armed groups continue. In northern Iraq, there are also tensions with Kurdish groups.
A total of 1.2 million Iraqis are internally displaced and 3 million people are dependent on humanitarian aid, according to the UN refugee agency UNHCR. What's more, many returnees are unable to meet their basic needs on their own, dpa reported.
In a 2023 survey of returning migrants conducted by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), nearly half of respondents indicated they wanted to migrate abroad from Iraq again within six months.
with dpa