Germany to ease deportation rules after Cologne attacks
| German Chancellor, Angela Merkel |
BERLIN (AP) — Germany will make it easier to deport criminal
foreigners following public outrage over the New Year's Eve assaults in
Cologne, officials said Tuesday. Police say 553 criminal complaints have been filed in
connection with the assaults, with about 45 percent involving allegations of
sexual offenses, and most of the suspects identified so far are foreign
nationals. Many asylum-seekers who commit crimes currently avoid deportation
because the danger they face in their home country is considered greater than
the reason for deporting them.
"With this proposal we are significantly lowering the
hurdles for the possible expulsion of foreigners who have committed crimes in
Germany," Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere told reporters in Berlin.
The changes, which have to be approved by the Cabinet and
Parliament, would mean that even a suspended prison sentence would be grounds
for deportation if someone is found guilty of certain crimes. These include
homicide, bodily harm, sexual assault, violent theft and serial shoplifting.
Youth sentences would be covered too.
A sentence of more than one year would further increase the
likelihood of deportation, de Maiziere said.
"That's a hard but right response by the state to those
who are seeking protection here, but think they can commit crimes" without
consequences for their right to remain in Germany, he said.
Justice Minister Heiko Maas said that public pressure
following the Cologne assaults had played a role in getting the plan agreed so
quickly.
"We owe this to the victims of these serious
crimes," he said, adding that the measures were also necessary "to
protect the overwhelming majority of innocent refugees in Germany. They don't
deserve to be lumped together with criminal foreigners."
Maas said that changes also would be made to Germany's sex
crime laws to ensure that victims who are caught by surprise, or who fear
greater physical harm if they resist assault, are better protected.
"This too is the kind of situation we had in Cologne,
where people were confronted with a horde of men," he said.
Police say most of the suspects in Cologne are believed to
be foreigners, including at least some asylum-seekers. Many were described as
being of "Arab or North African origin."
The assaults have heightened tensions over Germany's migrant
influx. Nearly 1.1 million asylum-seekers arrived last year.
Cologne police say they have identified 23 possible
suspects. Separately, federal police have identified 32 suspects, including
nine Algerians.
Algeria's prime minister, Abdelmalek Sellal, said during a
visit to Berlin on Tuesday that "we as the Algerian state and people say
that, if this is confirmed, it is unacceptable for us."
Beyond the question of foreigners who commit crimes, Germany
is keen to ensure that migrants who aren't granted asylum leave the country as
quickly as possible.
Chancellor Angela Merkel said she and Sellal discussed the
increasing number of Algerians migrating illegally to Germany in recent months
and agreed to step up police cooperation. She said that very few Algerians are
granted asylum in Germany and so "in many cases, the question of sending
them back is on the agenda."
Sellal noted that the two countries have had an agreement to
return Algerian nationals living illegally in Germany since 1997. He stressed,
though, "that it must be proven that they are Algerians, and that can
lengthen the matter."
Separately on Tuesday, a top German police official said he
doesn't believe the New Year's Eve assaults in Cologne and elsewhere were
linked to organized crime.
Holger Muench, the head of Germany's Federal Criminal Police
Office, told RBB Inforadio that "the same conditions were in place at
different locations," with crowds of people gathering to celebrate the new
year.
"I am not saying that there was no organization, but it
is not organized crime," he said. "That would have a different
quality for me. We would be talking about ... hierarchical groups."
However, "what we see here is perpetrators
communicating with each other and making arrangements ... and of course we must
recognize better where they do this, how they do this," Muench said.
Geir Moulson contributed to this report.
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