Rejected asylum seekers to be deported

Germany deported a record 80,000 migrants denied asylum last year and that figure will rise again in 2017, a top official said, as Chancellor Angela Merkel seeks to win back conservative voters before elections in September. Peter Altmaier, Merkel’s chief of staff, told Bild am Sonntag newspaper that nearly half of 700,000 asylum requests made […]

Germany deported a record 80,000 migrants denied asylum last year and that figure will rise again in 2017, a top official said, as Chancellor Angela Merkel seeks to win back conservative voters before elections in September.
Peter Altmaier, Merkel’s chief of staff, told Bild am Sonntag newspaper that nearly half of 700,000 asylum requests made in 2016 had been rejected, spelling another record high in deportations this year.
Altmaier said it was important to send these people home promptly in order to maintain a high level of public support for the asylum system.
Germany has taken in more than a million migrants in the last 18 months, often fleeing war and turmoil in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.
Those seeking asylum need to show they would face persecution at home. Many whose applications are rejected have nevertheless been allowed to stay temporarily, a practice that Merkel’s conservatives want to scale back.