Afghan asylum seekers and refugees in Germany are making unauthorised trips back home despite having claimed their lives were at risk in Afghanistan as a reason for seeking asylum, an investigation by broadcaster RTL has revealed.
The report published on August 16 claimed many Afghans were exploiting loopholes, often with the assistance of travel agencies, to return to their home country without permission.
Using a so-called “double-entry” visa, Afghan refugees travel to Afghanistan via Iran. When they cross into Afghanistan, their entry is recorded only on paper, which they later destroy before heading back to Germany. As a result, only their time in Iran is officially documented upon their return to Europe.
RTL uncovered the practice after Afghans living in Germany shared pictures and movies of their travels to Afghanistan on social media, such as TikTok.
Some Afghans have admitted to the media outlet that they travelled from all over Europe to their homeland, some referring to the ruling Taliban as “nice”.
While the documentary focused on an area in Hamburg, from where many Afghans visit home, the issue seems much larger.
In 2021, around 400,000 people with Afghan citizenship were living in Germany. According to travel agency operators, hundreds of Afghans travel from Hamburg alone to their homeland every week using so-called Blue Passes.
Blue Passes are special travel documents for people claiming asylum in Germany and serve as a replacement for the passport from their country of origin.
In a reaction to the news of the trips, on August 15 German Migration Commissioner, Joachim Stamp, warned asylum seekers not to travel to their home countries for leisure or vacation purposes and threatened consequences if they were found to have done so.
“Germany must remain cosmopolitan, but not stupid,” he told Bild newspaper. “The authorities must ensure that people who have applied for protection from us but are on holiday in their home country immediately lose their protection status and can no longer stay in Germany. Period.”
“We are working tirelessly to bring more order to migration. The lack of consistency at this point destroys a lot.”
According to the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees, travel by people at risk to their home country is only permitted under specific conditions and can lead to the revocation of protection and residence status under certain conditions.
The Federal Police asserted that its primary responsibility was immigration control at airports, and that they lacked the staff required to conduct additional checks on those departing the country.
When asked whether the interior ministry was aware of such illegal travel, Interior Minister Nancy Faeser shifted responsibility.
“So first of all, it is not our job as the Federal Ministry of the Interior, but the local immigration authorities to make sure that something like this does not happen,” she told one local media outlet.
In reaction to a brutal knife attack in Mannheim during which a police officer was fatally stabbed in the neck, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said he wanted stricter deportation policies targeting criminal migrants. https://t.co/Lw8BtMOZlv
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) June 6, 2024
Opposition politicians from the Christian Democrats expressed outrage, with the deputy chair of the party’s Bundestag faction, Thorsten Frei, taking aim at what he saw as government inaction over the illegal trips.
“What surprises me is that the federal government does not seem to deal with this phenomenon at all,” the MP said.
“We recently asked the Federal Government how many residence permits have been revoked due to holidays in countries of origin. And the answer was: we don’t know because we don’t keep statistics about it,” he said.
Anti-migration hard-right party Alternative for Germany (AfD) meanwhile said that the “absurdity of the situation can hardly be described in words.”
“The reaction of the Minister of the Interior Faeser to the revelations is predictable — she is as indifferent as ever,” the party claimed.
“This is not surprising, because even after the rape of a 14-year-old by an Afghan in Illerkirchberg, Faeser absolutely did not want to deport anyone to the country.”
“Faeser’s policy is a mockery for the people in Germany, who often cannot afford a vacation themselves and at the same time have to pay for this mass foreign social abuse with their tax money,” it added.
“The AfD will not tolerate these conditions and will ensure that such migrants have to forego the return flight to Germany after their return home. Because anyone who goes on vacation in their home country is not a ‘refugee’!”
Germany’s progressive traffic-light government had initially resisted calls to deport Afghan asylum seekers, claiming they risked torture, death or other inhumane treatment in their home country.
It was only after a horrific knife attack, where a police officer was killed, that Berlin started to consider sending back criminals.
In 2023, more people were naturalised in Germany than since the year 2000, the Federal Statistical Office in Wiesbaden has announced. https://t.co/62ptgzSvfa
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) May 29, 2024
