Faster migrant deportations welcome, says Germany’s Merkel

Dima Suchin
By Dima Suchin
March 10, 2017News
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German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Thursday (March 9) it would be welcome if faster deportations of migrants were possible, as she tries to placate conservative voters before her country’s September election.

Leaders of her Christian Democrat party (CDU) have been pushing to deport more migrants whose applications have failed or foreigners who have committed crimes to please voters put off by Merkel’s decision in 2015 to open German borders to refugees.

Germany has taken in more than a million migrants in the last 18 months, often fleeing war and turmoil in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.

Those seeking asylum need to show they would face persecution at home. Many whose applications are rejected have nevertheless been allowed to stay temporarily, a practice that Merkel’s conservatives want to scale back.

“Well I think, firstly, that we would welcome it if faster deportations were possible, but lastly, it is also about rights which we have in Germany and at the moment I can’t see any changes to our practices which we also discuss extensively back home,” Merkel told a news conference at a summit of EU leaders in Brussels.

The Mediterranean Sea between Libya and Italy has become the main crossing point for asylum seekers and economic migrants seeking a better life in Europe.

EU leaders are looking to help stabilise Libya after the country descended into chaos following the 2011 toppling of long-time leader Muammar Gaddafi, enabling smuggling gangs to develop entrenched networks.

Smugglers typically demand thousands of dollars from migrants for a risky journey across the desert before cramming them onto ill-equipped boats for a perilous crossing of the Mediterranean.

An estimated 4,500 migrants drowned in 2016.

(REUTERS)

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