Migration
Over 15,000 returnees after being transferred to other EU countries
Updated on December 27, 2024Reading time: 2 min.
In the European Union there are the so-called Dublin rules, which determine which member state is responsible for an asylum procedure. The wishes of the applicants are often different.
More than 15,000 foreigners who had previously been transferred to another EU member state were staying in Germany in the fall. This emerges from a response from the federal government to a request from the Die Linke group, which was submitted to the German Press Agency. More than 4,000 of them reappeared in Germany in 2023 and 2024. For the others, the time of their return to Germany was reportedly some time ago.
More than 3,300 returned to Germany after being transferred to Italy. Returns from Poland were recorded in 2,192 cases.
Of the total of 15,608 people who were brought from Germany to another European country in the past, 5,131 people were required to leave the country as of October 31st. The largest group of those returning after rendition were people originating from the Russian Federation, followed by Afghans and Iraqis.
As the federal government further explains, at the end of October 1,747 foreigners who had already been sent to another country in the European Union had a toleration status – for example because of a follow-up application for asylum, a lack of travel documents or for other reasons.
There are “just under 6,000 refugees living in Germany who should be deported to another EU country to be examined for asylum,” says MP Clara Bünger (Die Linke). “This puts the sometimes hysterical asylum debate of late into perspective quite considerably.”
In the first ten months of 2024, at least 21,110 people in Germany applied for asylum who had already been granted protection status in Greece. The Gelsenkirchen administrative court ruled last August that it was unreasonable for refugees to return there. In view of the “significant bureaucratic hurdles and a lack of state support, it is still fundamental to assume that those entitled to protection in Greece are most likely not able to find secure accommodation and secure their livelihood through legal employment or state support.”