Germany to speed up expulsions of rejected asylum seekers

PanARMENIAN.Net - Germany will speed up expulsions of rejected asylum seekers under measures agreed by Chancellor Angela Merkel's cabinet Wednesday, February 22, as controversy raged over sending people back to strife-torn Afghanistan, AFP reports.

Under the new measures, immigration agency officials will in future also be allowed to access applicants' smartphones in certain cases to help determine their identity and country of origin.

Some 50 Afghan citizens were set to be deported on a charter plane from Munich later Wednesday, the third such flight since late last year, drawing protests from Amnesty International and left-wing opposition parties.

The EU's top economy -- which has taken in more than one million asylum seekers since 2015 -- last year repatriated some 80,000 people who were denied refugee or asylum status, a process it wants to speed up.

While Germany granted safe haven to most people from war-torn Syria, it has argued that it can safely repatriate people to Kabul and other parts of Afghanistan, where German troops are part of NATO forces seeking to create stability.

Merkel -- who is standing for re-election in September amid a voter backlash over the mass migrant influx -- two weeks ago won agreement from leaders of Germany's 16 state governments on the repatriation plan.

Germany also plans to detain people scheduled for deportation if they are considered a threat to public security, or to fit them with electronic ankle bracelets.

Among the other planned measures are national "deportation centres" and financial incentives for those who return voluntarily.