Germany Moves to Restart Migrant Deportations

However, others have argued that the government needs to go further, with the anti-mass migration Alternative for Germany (AfD) party saying that previous refugees must also be returned home, not just criminals.

AfD MP Gottfried Curio said: “After more than half a year has passed since the fall of the Assad regime, a new government has been established and the fighting has essentially ended. It is time for the federal government to also take these new realities into account in its asylum policy.”

This sentiment was echoed by CDU parliamentarian Alexander Throm, who added: “In recent years, Germany has given hundreds of thousands of Syrians protection from a civil war that is now over.”

“It is fair and, by the way, provided for in international refugee protection in such a way that those seeking protection return to their homeland when the dangers end.”

Alternatively, politicians from the far-left Greens and Marxist Die Linke parties criticised the plans to begin removals, arguing that the government should focus on speeding up the process to hand out citizenship to Syrians.