Mert Sayim tours the airports in the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia. He is especially often at the airport in Düsseldorf. From there alone, more than 2,800 people were deported from Germany in 2024. People whose asylum applications were rejected or who had no prospect of staying in the country for other reasons.
In 2024, Germany returned 20,000 refugees
Sayim works for the social organization of the Protestant Church in Germany, Diakonie. There, he is a referent for refugee, migration and integration issues. His job consists of monitoring deportations on the spot and documenting possible violations in the work with the people affected. Sayim also knows exactly how many there are - since 2022, the number has increased from just under 13,000 to over 20,000 per year.
A new increase is expected in 2025. According to the Federal Ministry of the Interior, 12,000 people have already been extradited in the first half of the year. And that means even more work for people like Sayim.
When presenting the current annual report of the Deportation Monitoring Service at Diakonie, Sayim gives the following example: "Some time ago, we monitored the deportation of a child after a recent heart operation. The child was deported without the necessary medical check-up - even though it had already been scheduled." Sayim would like the authorities to show more tact and flexibility in such cases.
"When deporting sick people, it should be checked and monitored in each individual case whether the person concerned actually has access to the necessary medical care in the country to which he is being extradited. In doing so, it should be taken into account whether the treatment is personally accessible, financially feasible and accessible to him", the service's annual report recommends. It believes that if there are significant health risks, the deportation should be postponed.
What do the authorities say?
But this rarely happens. And if it does, it is more likely for other reasons. For example, pilots sometimes refuse to fly if the people to be deported behave aggressively. The safety of all passengers on board takes precedence. This is also the opinion of the federal police, which is responsible for border security, with which the independent state agency for monitoring deportations in North Rhine-Westphalia has been cooperating for a long time.
"Deportations are not carried out at any cost", emphasizes Chief Commissioner Andrea Hofmeister from the press office of the federal police in St. Augustine, who is familiar with the subject. All colleagues involved in the extradition operations have been trained. And special rooms have been set up at the airports for families and children.
Germany is betting on tightening its course
Germany is betting on tightening its course in refugee policy. The EU asylum reform is due to come into force in the country in the summer of 2026. The federal cabinet has already started work on this process and has adopted two draft laws from the Ministry of the Interior.
For example, the planned new regulation provides that under certain conditions, benefits for asylum seekers can be reduced to a minimum - for example, in the event of violence in reception centers or failure to comply with the registration obligation. According to Interior Minister Alexander Dobrint, most EU countries want "stricter measures".
The EU member states adopted the reform of the Common European Asylum System (CEAS) in the spring of 2024. The reform provides, among other things, for uniform asylum procedures at the EU's external borders. The aim is to deport migrants directly from there, if necessary. The CEAS also provides for identity checks on arrivals and a fairer distribution of asylum seekers between EU member states.
Author: Marcel Fürstenau