German chancellor Angela Merkel revealed her plans to push forward for faster deportation of failed asylum seekers.
Merkel, who stood for an open-border policy, took the U-turn in the light of the Berlin Christmas attack, in which the deportation of the Tunisian terrorist was delayed due to slow processing of paper works.
“With the terrorist Anis Amri we had trouble with the issuing of a replacement passport – it arrived very late,” she said during her weekly podcast.
“However, one must also say that the multiple identities of Amri were very diverse. And so, of course, we will talk about how we can ensure that the work is processed more quickly, especially when it has to do with a threat to public safety,” she added.
The Chancellor is also due to put forward a 16-point plan to boot out rejected asylum seekers who arrived in Germany. Her plans will include a “joint centre for return” in order to take deportation controls away from the states, Express reported.
In 2016, around 55,000 people voluntarily agreed to return to their home countries, while another 25,000 were forcefully deported from Germany.
