Number Of Deportations From Germany Increases

Deportation flight January 2025

There have been more deportations since the beginning of the year. The trend continues to rise. More people were deported from Germany in the first quarter of 2025 than in previous years. Surprisingly, some of the destination countries are EU member states. Critics accuse the authorities of inhumane actions.

The number of deportations from Germany increased in the first three months of the year. According to the federal government's response to a parliamentary question from the German "Left (Political) Party" in the House of Representatives (Bundestag), a total of 6,151 people were deported from January to March.

Extrapolated over the year, this amounts to around 24,000 people. This figure is well above the average for previous years. In 2024, there were a total of around 20,000 deportations, compared to around 16,500 the previous year.

New government, new course
Deportations in the first quarter were still carried out under the old federal government. However, the government consisting of the CDU, CSU and SPD, which has been in office since May, has announced that it will step up the pace of deportations in future.

During the election campaign, the CDU and CSU cited increased returns as a central goal of their migration policy. It can therefore not be ruled out that the numbers will rise again as the year progresses.

People were deported to Turkey, Georgia, France, Spain and Serbia particularly frequently in the first quarter. Around 1,700 deportations were so-called "Dublin transfers" to other European countries, which are responsible for the asylum procedure in accordance with the EU regulation of the same name. This regulation obliges asylum seekers to submit their application in the EU country they first entered. Deportations also took place to Iraq (157 people) and Iran (5 people)

Expensive returns by charter flightAccording to the report, a third of deportations were carried out using cost-intensive charter flights. Collective deportations to third countries such as Pakistan, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Ghana and Cameroon were particularly costly. According to the report, a single deportation flight to Pakistan cost 462,000 euros. Similar amounts were charged for flights to Ethiopia (418,000 euros) and other West African countries. Some of these costs were covered by the EU border protection agency Frontex.

German "Left-wing" Party, MP Clara Bünger sharply criticised the authorities. She is aware of numerous cases in which the police and immigration authorities have acted brutally and without any empathy. We are talking about families being torn apart in ice-cold conditions or about sick people being literally kidnapped from hospital and carted off on deportation flights, said Clara Bünger.

The Left Party is therefore calling for a fundamental rethink of German deportation policy. Human rights organisations also regularly criticise the treatment of particularly vulnerable people, such as the sick, minors or members of families with children.