extremism
Decision: Easier deportation after glorification of terrorism
View of the deportation detention centre in Glückstadt, Schleswig-Holstein: A reform is intended to allow deportations after approval of a single terrorist crime. Photo
© Ulrich Perrey/dpa
Even a single hate comment is enough: The federal government wants to allow tougher action against foreigners who condone terrorist acts. One trigger is the knife attack in Mannheim.
In future, the immigration authorities of the federal states will be able to more easily expel and then deport people who support terrorist acts. According to information from government circles, the Federal Cabinet approved a corresponding draft by Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD).
According to this, deportation should be possible even if a single terrorist crime is approved. The distribution of content within the meaning of the draft should then not only include the creation of corresponding content, but also, for example, marking a post by “liking” it on social networks such as YouTube, Instagram or TikTok.
Mannheim as a trigger
The federal government’s plan is a response to hate postings on the internet, for example after the Hamas attack on Israel or after the fatal knife attack on an anti-Islam event in Mannheim, in which a police officer was killed by an Afghan at the end of May. Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) announced the tightening of the law in a government statement after the Mannheim attack. Faeser said: “We are taking tough action against Islamist and anti-Semitic hate crimes on the internet.”
According to the draft, the German state should also assume a particularly serious interest in expelling someone if someone condones and rewards certain crimes in a way that could disturb public peace. In this case, there would be no need to wait for a criminal conviction before expelling someone.
Criticism and praise of the project
“The fact that Interior Minister Faeser is now apparently planning to deport people because of a post on social media” is the current climax of a worrying development, said the Left Party’s legal policy spokeswoman in the Bundestag, Clara Bünger. When it comes to authoritarian states such as Turkey or Russia, German politicians are rightly outraged that people there can be persecuted or even imprisoned because of a “like” on social media – “but the Federal Republic itself has long been moving in this direction.”
Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck, on the other hand, sees the plan as positive. “It is a great achievement and strength of our country that persecuted people can find protection in Germany.” But anyone who mocks the liberal basic order by cheering on terrorism and celebrating murder has forfeited their right to stay. Therefore, the right of residence will now be changed accordingly. “Islam belongs to Germany, Islamism does not,” added Habeck.