Foreign criminals should be deported from Germany more quickly, according to Germany's Minister of the Interior, Alexander Dobrindt.

"It is a crucial factor to keeping peace in our communities that those who bring violence and crime into our communities cannot remain in our country," Dobrindt told the Funke Media Group conglomerate of newspapers. 

"We will continue to pick up offenders at the prison gates after they have served their sentences, place them in deportation detention, and return them -- even to countries like Syria and Afghanistan," Dobrindt stressed.

Voluntary returns to Syria

With regard to Syrian nationals more broadly, Dobrindt said that the government wanted to encourage more Syrians to return to their homeland voluntarily, especially those "who cannot integrate and have no prospect of staying" in Germany.

However, the minister did not commit to naming a specific number of how many Syrians should return -- and what the timeframe for these returns might look like.

"There are no plans to expand the existing return programs," he also added.

Currently, there are roughly one million Syrians in Germany, many of whom have long-term residency rights or have even been granted German citizenship.

Since the end of the Assad regime in Syria in December 2024, such calls for return have been growing amid a stark increase in support of far-right parties.

Read AlsoGerman government pushes Syrians to return to their homeland

Focus on 'return hubs'

Dobrindt also referred to the introduction of so-called "return hubs" located outside the EU as another means to further limit — and deter — future immigration into the bloc. 

"These [hubs] are intended to show that making your way to Germany is not necessarily linked to the possibility of staying if the country of origin does not cooperate with us," he stated, adding that discussions were underway with various EU member states to launch such hubs, and that he expected "to conclude agreements by the end of the year."

In recent weeks, the European Parliament voted in favor of allowing individual member states to build such return hubs outside the bloc, as long as they are in line with European law.

Read AlsoEU to support overseas migrant 'return hubs'

The return hubs will serve a number of purposes, including the deportation of foreign nationals who have no right to remain within the bloc but who come from countries that do not have repatriation agreements with EU states.

However, the bloc has so far ruled out launching such centers collectively; in response to this, various EU nations have decided that they would join forces and build return hubs outside the EU together.

According to Dobrindt, Germany's potential partner countries to participate in the scheme currently include Denmark, the Netherlands, Austria, and Greece.

Read AlsoGermany and the Netherlands to cooperate on speeding up deportations

with KNA, EPD