Millions of Germans fear deportation

2024-02-11 12:56:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

In 2022, about 23.8 million people of foreign origin lived in Germany. This corresponds to 28.7 percent of the population. Almost half of them have German citizenship, about twelve million people. Most of them were born in Germany.

At the meeting held in Potsdam at the end of November, attended by politicians from the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party and members of the conservative wing of the center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU), there was talk of deporting "millions of people". At this meeting, as revealed and published in January by the investigative network Correctiv, plans were discussed to deport a large number of citizens of foreign origin, regardless of whether they have a German passport or not. German citizens of foreign origin would be deported if they did not assimilate, as stated.

"Contrary to the Constitution"

But German citizenship is specially protected by the German Constitution. Article 16 states: "German citizenship cannot be revoked". This provision was inserted into the Constitution also because of the Nazi practice of forceful deportation and removal of citizenship, especially of citizens of Jewish origin.

"This protection also applies to persons with dual citizenship", emphasizes in an interview for ARD, the specialist lawyer for constitutional law, Ulrich Karpenstein, vice-president of the Chamber of Lawyers of Germany.

Millions of Germans fear deportation

Although the Constitution allows some exceptions for citizens with dual citizenship, it provides very few options for revocation of citizenship, for example in cases of terrorist activities. Even if some new options were added that could lead to the removal of citizenship, they should under no circumstances be linked to skin color, as discussed at the Potsdam meeting.

"Also, the possible reasons for removing citizenship should not be related to either origin or the concept of assimilation," explains Karpenstein. "These plans are clearly unconstitutional. To implement such ideas you have to ignore both the German Constitution and international conventions on human rights." And this would only be possible in the case of a coup d'état.

Fear of citizens

But despite this, the "mass deportation plans" discussed in Potsdam frighten many Germans. In a survey conducted by the institute dimap Infratest for ARD, 51 percent of respondents with an immigrant background said that the plans caused them great or very great fear. 48 percent of respondents without foreign roots see this issue similarly.

Millions of Germans fear deportation

In the West of Germany the fear is slightly higher (49 percent say that the fear is great or very great) than in the East (42 percent). There are no big differences in age groups. Among people aged 35 to 49, the fear is a little lower and reaches 41 percent. The fear is particularly pronounced among supporters of the Greens and the SPD, with 69 and 61 percent. Only eight percent of AfD supporters are afraid of such deportations, while 76 percent of them answered that they have little or no fear.

Distancing AfD

The AfD has distanced itself from the meeting in Potsdam and claims it was a "private meeting". The party recently explained in an official document that its concept of so-called "remigration" includes all measures and incentives for the constitutionally and legally harmonized return of foreigners who are forced to leave Germany to their countries of origin. "We firmly reject unconstitutional demands such as (... ) deportations of German citizens with a migrant background."

Millions of Germans fear deportation

Does this mean that the AfD refuses to deport Germans, meaning German citizens? On January 10, 2024, shortly after "Correctiv" published the content of the Potsdam meeting, a post on the X network could read something else. The AfD called for the removal of obstacles to the process of revoking German citizenship and explained that they not only they want to keep deporting foreigners, "but they want to take away (German) passports from criminals, terrorists and rapists, as well as those who are considered a potential threat to society". "The automatic system according to which criminals are not deported because they have German citizenship must be abolished," party vice president Alice Weidel was quoted as saying.

Legally groundless

This at least suggests that the aim of the AfD is to in some cases take away the passports of Germans of immigrant origin. Under current legal regulations, such evictions are not possible. Constitutional lawyers such as Ulrich Karpenstein consider the amendment unconstitutional in relation to Article 16 of the Constitution.

In an interview with ARD, Bundestag member René Springer of the AfD explained: "As an alternative for Germany, we clearly support the Constitution, but that does not mean that we will not tighten the laws where necessary when to take responsibility and be in the government." This tightening will be decided in the German Bundestag: "We will have to negotiate what is tolerable for us and what is no longer acceptable. And where the obstacles in the way of removing citizenship should be lowered," he said.

For the AfD, German citizens of foreign origin are foreigners

An impression of what is "tolerable" for the AfD was given by a local rally of the party in Gera, Thuringia, in December. There, a visitor asked the head of the AfD for this country, Björn Höcke, what is happening to the millions of people who he still considers foreigners, but who have long had a German passport and German citizenship?

During that evening, Höcke said among other things "We will be able to live with 20, 30 percent fewer people in Germany without any problem, in fact I think it makes ecological sense". With these words, he explained very precisely the percentage of people with a migrant background in Germany - 28.7 percent - including those with a German passport. Asked by ARD to explain this statement, Höcke said it was misunderstood and added: "This number is the result of the demographic catastrophe in which Germany is"./ DW