Germany to prevent irregular migration, without suspending asylum rights: Chancellor Scholz

BERLIN (AA) – German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has promised new measures to prevent irregular migration but ruled out suspending asylum rights, amid calls from opposition parties for a drastic overhaul of migration policy.

“The individual right to asylum will remain in place. This is in our constitution, and nobody can get my support to challenge this,” Scholz said after the main opposition Christian Democrats (CDU) proposed a de facto freeze on accepting refugees.

Scholz announced that the police will carry out more controls at the county’s land borders and will introduce stricter measures to deport violent offenders, but turned down the opposition’s call for blanket rejection of all asylum seekers coming from Syria and Afghanistan.

“I would like to clearly state this: We will not violate the international treaties signed by Germany, we will abide by the law of the European Union, and of course our own constitution,” the Social Democrat politician told public broadcaster ZDF, adding that measures against illegal migrants and violent offenders should not harm refugees, who truly need protection in Germany.

– Government under pressure

Scholz’s ruling coalition came under pressure from the opposition parties after last week’s stabbing attack in Solingen, in which three people were killed and eight others were injured by a rejected Syrian asylum seeker.

The ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack.

Authorities have said the suspect came to Germany in 2022, but he did not qualify for refugee status in the country. He was supposed to be deported last year to Bulgaria, the first country he entered in the EU.

It was the second deadly knife attack by a violent extremist in Germany, in less than three months. A policeman was killed and five people were injured in late May, when a knife-wielding assailant attacked anti-Islam activist Michael Sturzenberger and his supporters in Mannheim. The 25-year-old perpetrator was an Afghan citizen who had arrived in Germany as a refugee in 2014, according to officials.

Scholz acknowledged legal and practical problems in deporting illegal migrants and violent offenders to their home countries, and said authorities were undertaking intensive efforts in recent months to address this problem.

“We would like to ensure that there would be possibilities to carry out deportations to Afghanistan, and we would like to have this also for Syria. Serious offenders have forfeited their right to protection here in Germany, and may have no claim to stay here,” he said.

Scholz did not say whether his government was holding talks with the Afghan government, and the Syrian regime to enable the deportation of serious offenders and illegal immigrants.

“I hope you will understand that we are not making public now all the details of our very comprehensive work on this problem, because we want it to work. But I can assure you that we are working very hard,” he said.

-Opposition demands ‘quick’ action

Germany’s main opposition Christian Democrats demanded “quick decisions” from the government for a drastic overhaul of migration policy, and asked for stricter deportation measures.

CDU leader Friedrich Merz said Germany should stop taking in any refugees from Syria and Afghanistan, and criminal immigrants should be deported to their home countries without delay.

Alice Wedel, co-chairwoman of the far-right AfD party, called for a moratorium on immigration for at least 5 years, and argued for deporting all irregular migrants who do not currently possess a legal residence permit.

“The groups of people with the highest crime rates – primarily Afghans, Syrians and Iraqis who are staying in Germany illegally – must be deported,” she said.