Yesterday, Friedrich Merz, who seems destined to become the next German chancellor, presented five concrete points for a turnaround in German migration policy. "The measure is finally full," he argued after the recent knife attack in Aschaffenburg. "We are facing the shambles of an asylum and immigration policy that has been misguided in Germany for ten years."
Merz promises to implement these five points:
- If he is elected Chancellor, he will instruct the Federal Ministry of the Interior "on the first day of my term of office" to permanently control all German state borders. There will be "a de facto ban on entry into the Federal Republic of Germany" for people without valid documents and those who make use of freedom of movement in Europe. This also applies to persons with a claim to protection.
- The federal police must be given the right to apply for arrest warrants.
- If persons obliged to leave the country are apprehended, they must be taken into custody or detention "and deported as quickly as possible". For this purpose, the federal government should provide facilities, such as empty barracks.
- The federal police must make a greater contribution to deportations. This task should not be left to the states alone. Deportations should "take place daily from now on".
- The right to stay (das Aufenthaltsrecht) will be changed in such a way that any criminal or endangerer (Gef?hrder), who is obliged to leave the country (ausreisepflichtig ist), can be "detained for an indefinite period of time". (Emphasis added).
Rather Trumpian actions don’t you think?
