Germany

Nearly every second deportation from Germany was cancelled in the first quarter of 2018, according to the German Federal Police. Some of the deportations are called off at the last minute. Charlotte Hauswedell reports. Between January and March this year, a total of 5,548 rejected asylum-seekers were deported from Germany, a spokesperson for the Federal Police told the Funke media …

The German Federal Office for Migration and Asylum (BAMF) will re-examine some 18,000 cases in which refugees were granted asylum in Germany, the agency’s director, Jutta Cordt, has announced. The inspection will cover all successful asylum applications filed as far back as 2000, she added while addressing a press conference on Friday. The measure will be applied to all asylum …

EU member states are expected to increase detention centre capacity and step up migrant deportations, in line with a request from the European Commission. The European Commission has asked member states to increase their detention centre capacity and step up deportations of economic migrants, according to the latest report on the implementation of the EU Agenda on Migration Policy. The …

 Germany has put forward a new proposal for the repatriation of some 30,000 undocumented Nigerian migrants to their home country. Dr Jan Hecker, foreign policy adviser to Chancellor Angela Merkel, visited Abuja last week to hold talks with Nigerian officials on the deportation plan. In an exclusive interview with the German international broadcaster, Deutsche Welle (DW), Nigeria’s Foreign Minister Geoffrey Onyeama …

Public broadcaster ZDF has ranked every town in Germany based on three categories: work and living, free time and nature, health and security. Of the top five, three are in Bavaria, reports Elizabeth Schumacher. MUNICH The capital of Bavaria was chosen for its sprawling English Garden park, museums, cultural events like Oktoberfest, and proximity to the mountains. It ranked No. …

A medical doctor in Bavaria has publicly announced his decision to stop treating asylum-seekers, after working in a reception centre for three years. He claims half of his patients were simply medical tourists. Health organizations have denounced his statements. Charlotte Hauswedell reports. A doctor working in the Deggendorf reception centre in Germany’s southern state of Bavaria told the German newspaper …

The man has arrived in Milan one day after authorities denied his appeal to stay in Germany. The case sparked major national attention when other migrants prevented authorities’ first attempt to deport him. A 23-year-old refugee from Togo, who made headlines with the attempts to block his deportation order has landed in Italy, authorities confirmed on Tuesday. The news came …

This year’s Africa Day will be marked for the 8th consecutive time in the western German city of Dortmund with the theme “Global networking & modern economy”. The Day, which commemorates the founding of the Organisation of African Unity (now African Union) in Addis Ababa on 25 May 1963, is marked both in Africa and its Diaspora communities across the …

Germany granted residence permit to some 35,000 Eritrean refugees last year. This entitles them to bring their families over. But not all are successful. Daniel Pelz of Deutsche Welle (DW) reports on the reasons for this. With its population of around five million, Eritrea is one of the main countries of origin of African refugees. Young people especially are among …

The German Cabinet has approved legislation allowing refugees with subsidiary protection status to bring their direct relatives to Germany. Critics say that the bill breaches human rights, and that it will force more migrants to put their fate in the hands of people-smugglers. Marion MacGregor of Deutsche Welle (DW) reports. German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Cabinet on Wednesday voted to resettle …

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German police Thursday raided a refugee centre where they had met violent resistance three days earlier when they tried to pick up a Togolese man for deportation. Several hundred armoured police searched the facility in Ellwangen, Baden-Wuerttemberg state, during the dawn operation and arrested the 23-year-old rejected asylum seeker, authorities said. In the early hours of Monday, four police had …

When Seedy Saidykhan came to Germany as a refugee in 2016, he knew he wanted to make things work. Despite many obstacles, the 20-year old has come a long way. He founded an informative website for migrants and is now an outspoken supporter of integration. Seedy is in his second year in Germany, but many people cannot believe how fast …

A German migration official is suspected of having granted asylum to some 1,200 migrants in exchange for bribes. Germany’s migration agency has been under intense scrutiny since the arrival of over million refugees in 2015. A former official of Germany’s Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) is under investigation over allegations that she, along with four others, accepted bribes …

Assessing legal service in the pursuit of their application is a major challenge for asylum-seekers because they cannot afford the required fees. An initiative works to help refugees overcome this challenge. Refugee law clinics across Germany offer legal advice to refugees. This is a free service and most of the volunteers are university law students who have specialized in asylum …

After more than ten years of agitations, new names for streets in Berlin’s African Quarter linked to the brutal German colonial past in Africa have been found. The representatives of the three major parties on the district council of Wedding (Greens, SPD and Left) have agreed to rename Petersallee, Lüderitzstraße and Nachtigalplatz in honour of African liberation fighters. Lüderitzstraße was …

Berliners are calling on the city government to address skyrocketing housing costs as lawmakers dispute recent reports that the German capital has had the biggest price hikes in the world. Elizabeth Schumacher reports. Thousands of people defied the rain in the German capital, Berlin, on Saturday to protest the rising cost of housing amid rampant gentrification. Berlin has the fastest-rising property …

Unaccompanied minors travelling to Europe for protection pose a significant challenge to the authorities. Aasim Saleem of InfoMigrants takes a closer look at the protection mechanism and its shortcomings for underage migrants in Germany. A person is registered as an “unaccompanied minor refugee” if he or she is under the age of 18 and has fled without his or her …

Germany’s Interior Ministry supports the Central Council of Jews, whose chairman said those who disrespect German values should be stripped of their right of abode. It comes as Germany grapples with rising anti-Semitism. The chairman of Germany’s Central Council of Jews, Josef Schuster, told the Welt am Sonntag newspaper that fines and reprimands were not enough when tackling anti-Semitism and …

Immigrants with limited German language competence are among those that face most difficulties finding accomodation or at risk of being thrown out of their apartment. Now, a new site offers information in multiple languages so that people of all backgrounds can know their rights and recourses. Werena Rosenke receives a lot of phone calls. “They’re people who need acute help. …