Germany rolls back refugees’ welcome
Weighs steps to ease migrant deportation
As a backlash against a flood of migrants spreads, Europe’s most welcoming country on Wednesday weighed legislation to make it easier to deport refugees and foreigners found guilty of serious crimes.
The legislative move by the German Parliament underscores the anti-immigrant outcry since allegations surfaced about sexual assaults by migrants against hundreds of women in Cologne and other cities on New Year’s Eve.
Police have received 561 criminal complaints related to the Dec. 31 assaults that include two rape allegations. At least 19 men are being investigated in the attacks, federal police said.
A poll this week by the YouGov online research firm showed that 62% of Germans say there are too many asylum seekers in the country, from 53% in November.
Germany accepted more than 1 million migrants last year from conflict zones such as Syria, Iraq and Eritrea. But the welcome mat for refugees laid out by German Chancellor Angela Merkel is being pulled back a bit.
She backs the proposal to deport migrants for crimes such as homicide and rape.
Aiman Mazyek, chairman of Germany’s Central Council of Muslims, said his group has seen a spike in threats since the events in Cologne.
“We’ve received an incredible number of hate calls. You could call it telephone terror,” Mazyek told state broadcaster Deutsche Welle on Tuesday.
Right-wing, anti-immigration groups were quick to capitalize on the Cologne sexual assaults.
Tatjana Festerling, a speaker for a group called PEGIDA, said Monday in Leipzig that Muslim refugees had declared “sex jihad,” a terror attack against blond, white women in Germany.