Germany deports 23 Afghan convicts amid tougher migration policy

Germany deported 23 Afghan men on a charter flight to Kabul on Tuesday as the government sought to show a tougher stance on immigration ahead of regional elections next month.

The men, who were subject to deportation orders, had largely been convicted of serious offenses, including sexual crimes and bodily harm, the Interior Ministry said in a statement.

Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said the government would press ahead with the policy. “Our society has a clear interest in ensuring that criminals must leave our country,” he said. “Anyone who does not have a right of residence in Germany must expect to leave. We are implementing this course in a determined way.”

Deportations of undocumented migrants and rejected asylum seekers have become a flashpoint in Germany’s political debate, with the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) making the issue a key part of its campaign ahead of elections in three states next month.

Party leaders and candidates have accused Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s conservative-led coalition of failing to curb irregular migration or swiftly deport rejected asylum seekers and convicted offenders, arguing that the government’s measures are too slow, too weak and poorly enforced nationwide.

Opinion polls show the AfD well ahead in the eastern states of Saxony-Anhalt and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, with support estimated at 36% to 43%. Whether it can win an outright majority in either state parliament is unclear, since seat allocations could hinge on whether smaller parties clear the 5% threshold needed to enter the legislature. In Berlin, both the capital and a federal state, the AfD is projected to finish second with about 18%.