Asylum seekers who pose a security risk should be deported,
according to Germany’s Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere. This is included
in plans to overhaul the country’s asylum policy and beef up security.
As reported by Deutsche Welle (DW), Germany’s international
broadcaster, the minister outlined his plans in an op-ed published on January 3
in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper. He said he had already
presented a draft bill that would allow the state to detain and deport asylum
seekers suspected of posing a security threat.
“I propose that the federal government be granted greater powers
to renounce residency permits,” de Maiziere wrote. That way, deportations would
be “directly carried out” by the federal government, rather than the individual
states.
“Deportations centres are already viable, legally speaking,
and could be set up near airports,” de Maiziere wrote.
According to DW, the minister’s deportation proposal comes
as part of wider overhaul of Germany’s security structure, which would expand
the federal government’s powers at the expense of individual states.
“Those who seek to undermine our internal security, don’t
seek to do so in just one state,” de Maiziere wrote.
