Deporting clan criminals: What is behind Nancy Faeser’s move

questions and answers
Deport relatives of clan criminals? That’s behind Nancy Faeser’s advance

The authority of Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) has presented a discussion paper on how the deportation of clan criminals can be made easier. A misunderstanding about the advance may be consciously left to Faeser.

The Federal Ministry of the Interior headed by Nancy Faeser (SPD) has made a suggestion as to how members of criminal clans or other organized crime groups could be deported more easily in the future. A comparable regulation already exists for members of terrorist groups.

However, the spokesman for the Federal Ministry of the Interior, Maximilian Kall, emphasized on Monday in Berlin that there is still no concrete draft law. Rather, the suggestion is Part of a “discussion paper”, for which there is an “ongoing coordination process with the federal states and municipalities”. Nevertheless, Faeser’s initiative provoked many reactions. The most important questions and answers at a glance:

What does the “discussion paper” say about clan crime?

According to the spokesman, should the proposal be implemented, a conviction for membership in a criminal organization would no longer be necessary for easier deportation. Rather, it would be the case “that deportation should be possible if facts justify the conclusion that someone was or is part of a criminal organization”.

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Referring to criminal clans, he said that any family member who would be deported under the new rule would have to be linked to criminal activities. He emphasized: “A family connection is not a criminal activity”. In doing so, he contradicts the reporting that even family members who are in good standing could be deported by clan criminals.

A spokeswoman for the Federal Ministry of the Interior said on request that the proposed regulation corresponds to the wishes of some federal states and municipal umbrella organizations. She said: “Whether such a regulation is proportionate and whether the regulatory objective can be achieved without unwanted side effects should now be discussed in detail with the federal states and municipal umbrella organizations.” In other words: the whole issue is far from settled.

What is the current legal situation?

So far, there has been a similar blanket regulation in immigration law according to the “Süddeutsche Zeitung”. only for the area of ​​counter-terrorism. For example, they meet foreigners who belong to a mosque association that has donated to a terrorist group. Accordingly, they are to be expelled even if they have not broken any laws themselves.

What are the reactions to the proposal?

The Greens have expressed doubts about the rule of law: It is “clear that regulations outside of the rule of law are never up for debate for us Greens,” said the parliamentary director of the Greens parliamentary group, Irene Mihalic, the RND newspapers on Tuesday. This also applies to measures that treat relatives of criminals who have not been convicted of a criminal offense in the same way as criminals. The party only wants to make it easier for people who have actually been convicted to be deported.

“The coalition has agreed to reform the deportation practice and make it more effective,” said Mihalic. “We expect concrete, reliable proposals from the responsible interior minister,” she added, pointing to Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD).

Legal experts were also skeptical. “I can’t imagine that the Ministry of the Interior is seriously considering expelling people simply because they belong to a family,” Berlin constitutional law expert Ulrich Battis told the Tagesspiegel, ignoring the fact that the Interior Ministry spokesman said: expressly not about belonging to a family, but rather about belonging to a criminal organization. As an encroachment on fundamental rights, deportations “must always be justified in individual cases,” said Battis. The asylum law expert Daniel Thym from the University of Konstanz told the newspaper that the proposals bordered on a “ghost discussion”. Even if the authorities came to the conclusion that there was reason for expulsion, those affected would still have the right to take legal action. The CDU, on the other hand, had doubts that the proposal would be implemented.

How big is the problem of clan crime anyway?

The “Federal Situation Report on Organized Crime 2021” defines a clan as follows: “A clan is an informal social organization that is determined by a common understanding of descent among its members. It is characterized in particular by a hierarchical structure, a strong sense of belonging and a common understanding of norms and values.” The largest group of suspects (338) in matters of clan crime had German citizenship in 2021. So these cannot be deducted at all. This was followed by 187 suspects with Lebanese nationality, 159 with Turkish nationality, the nationality of 65 suspects is unclear, which also prevents deportation. 37 suspects had Syrian nationality, 22 Albanian. Overall, the clan crime statistics count 930 suspects for the year 2021.

What is behind Nancy Faeser’s push?

The “Taz” has a guess: Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser is in Election campaign for the office of Prime Minister of Hesse. By not correcting the misunderstanding of deporting innocent family members from clan criminals, she is given, according to “Taz”, “an unscrupulous hit-and-run image”.

Other sources:“Discussion paper on bmi.de, Comment on “Taz.de”, “sueddeutsche.de”, “Federal picture of organized crime 2021” (PDF) on bka.de,

with agencies