BERLIN, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- Governors and interior ministers of Germany's states on Thursday urged the federal government to help them ensure the swift deportation of criminal asylum seekers.
Boris Pistorius (SPD), interior minister in Lower Saxony, told newspaper Bild that it was the federal government's responsibility to deal with asylum seekers who had committed crimes.
"In such cases, the federal office for migration and refugees must immediately assess whether the legal conditions are met to deny the right to asylum," Pistorius argued.
The SPD politician urged Berlin to conduct the assessment "very rapidly and consistently" so that those affected leave Germany "as soon as possible."
Pistorius' concerns were echoed by Manuela Schwesig (SPD), governor of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Schwesig said the federal and regional levels of government had to "work together better in order to speed up deportations."
Hamburg Mayor Olaf Scholz (SPD) said that Germany needed to "make use of all possibilities" to deport criminal asylum seekers."Leniency is not appropriate in this regard," Scholz added.
Markus Ulbig (CDU), interior minister of Saxony, warned that the "success and acceptance" of Germany's asylum policy among citizens could only be guaranteed with the "consistent deportation" of migrants who had failed to secure asylum.
Nonetheless, Joachim Stamp (FDP), minister for integration in North Rhine-Westphalia, argued that it was the quality, rather than the quantity, of deportations which needed to be lifted.
Migrants who were "well integrated" should be offered means to stay in Germany, while terror suspects and criminals had to be deported "much more consistently," Stamp said.
The Christian Social Union (CSU) demanded to triple available spaces at detention centers for individuals who were unlawfully in the country and hence duty bound to leave Germany.
CSU's Stephan Mayer said his party wanted to lift the number of deportees "from 400 to at least 1,200" by the end of 2017.
"Otherwise we will never be able to deport the roughly 230,000 individuals who are duty bound to leave Germany," Mayer added.
Mayer hereby reiterated a demand made earlier by CDU/CSU parliamentary faction leader Volker Kauder (CDU). Kauder pressured Germany's states to create more spaces at detention centers, but also offered assistance from the federal government where it was needed.
The CDU politician's comments sparked a heated debate over where the responsibilities of federal and regional authorities should lie in the implementation of asylum policy. Under current German law, states are tasked with conducting deportations.
