German govt struggles to deport illegal asylum seekers

Deportations of illegal asylum seekers in Germany are stalling despite a growing number of individuals being ordered to leave the country, the Funke media group reported Friday.

A total of 12,545 asylum seekers were deported in the first half of 2017, lower than the figure for the first half of 2016 (13,743).

However, data from the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees for the same period reveal that the number of individuals who are duty-bound to leave the country rose by roughly 18,000 individuals to 226,257.

In particular, the number of individuals legally required to leave Germany without being officially tolerated by authorities shot up by 23 percent to 66,779.

In specific circumstances, the stay of illegal immigrants may be tolerated by German authorities despite their inability to prove their legal right to remain in the country. By contrast, those without official tolerance are duty-bound to leave Germany voluntarily or be deported as soon as possible.

CDU interior politician Markus Ulbig demanded that authorities gain the right to use passport-substituting documentation to facilitate deportations.

Many refugees arrive without passports, birth registry extracts or other identifying documentation, making it difficult for governments to determine their nationality and residency status amongst others.

According to Ulbig, the work of authorities would be greatly helped by the issuing of so-called "Laissez-Passer" certificates which enable singular exits from Germany without temporal limitations.

The German Federal government is currently discussing such measures with several states where large numbers of nationals have fled to Germany.

Ulbig also demanded that benefit payments to individuals who were duty-bound to leave be cut.

"At the end of the day we want eliminate any incentive [to stay]," Ulbig said.

According to Ulbig, those who do not have a right to remain in Germany" should also no longer have a right to benefits."

A total of 25,375 people were deported from Germany in total in 2016. The process of removing asylum seekers often stalls because many of their countries of origin refuse to take back their emigrated citizens.

More than one million refugees from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan have arrived in Germany since 2015.