Demonstration in solidarity with people threatened by deportation: Freiburg - 20th of april - 2pm - Johanneskirche
Baden-Württemberg deports refugees – In defiance of everything that has been said about a more humane refugee policy by the Federal Government of ”Bündnis 90/Die Grünen“ (Green Party) and the SPD (Social Democrats). In 2012, 763 people were deported from Baden-Württemberg. A temporary ban on deporting came to an end on March 3, 2013: Since then, people who have been living here for a long time have to live in the constant fear being deported, facing an uncertain future.
It is well known that Freiburg praises itself as an “open city“. However, this is not true for refugees: Several hundred people, moslty Romanies, live in rundown residential homes, far from the public sphere. Instead of putting an end to this exclusiobary policy, the residential homes are provisionally renovated.
There seems to be a tendency of the “Ausländerbehörde” (Freiburg aliens registration authority) to find a way of elegantly getting rid of ”unwelcomed economic refugees“ by lawfully forcing an unpromising asylum procedure on refugees who have been living in Freiburg for several years..After a rejected asylum application, there is even more legal backup to proceed with the deportation as quickly as possible.
Additionally, an application for asylum has to be filed in Karlsruhe (where the highest German court is located). In most of the cases, the file is then allocated to the respective local authority. By acting swiftly and avoing Karlsruhe, Freiburg local politics allegedly gets rid of the problem while the affected persons are again denied an autonomous life.
The living conditions for refugees in Freiburg are catastrophic. Basic rights like free movement are especially restricted for the so called “Geduldete“ (tolerated) by the “Residenzpflicht“ (residential obligation). Instead of granting them cash benefits, the receive only non cash benefits. Moreover, the living space per person is currently at 4,5 square metres. Whoever citicises these conditions risks repression and physical violence as seen at the Refugee Bus Tour protest in Cologne, Karlsruhe and other cities, where people were taken in custody and attacked violently by the police. How poor conditions of living really are is also proven by protests of refugees in different cities of Baden-Württemberg (e.g. Freudenstadt, Heidenheim, and Künzelsau).
The SPD and Bündnis 90/Die Grünen Federal Government piles pressure on refugees: As an example, the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees routinely rejects asylum applications from the Balkan states. The “Duldung“ (suspension of deportation) is used as a means of excerting pressure. The Regierungspräsidium Karlsruhe (regional authority in Baden-Württemberg) released a “Hinweisblatt” (letter of information), which asks –often without a translation– the refugees to tick whether or not they were willing to leave the country voluntarily. Even though this statement is legally not necessary, the Ausländerbehörde (alien registration authority) creates the impression to only deliver the Duldung (suspension of deportation) if this letter of information was agreed to Under immense psychological pressure and along administrative barriers, many families are urged to “volontarily leave the country.“ However, this departure is everything but volontary: The alternative would be a deportation by force implying a five year entry ban to the Schengen area.
The “volontary leaving of the country” is in fact nothing but an indirect deportation which is even advertised as a humane refugee policy by those who are politically responsible.
With the narrow interpretation of asylum law, Germany does not meet the needs of refugees. Arriving in Germany still means little chance of protection. According to the Dublin II Regulation, people are deported to the place where they first entered the EU. The local situation at that place is not of further interest to the German authorities: Recently, the administrative court of Meiningen felt compelled to stop a deportation to Hungary because of the local circumstances. Hatred is openly stirred up against Romanies in Hungary and official awards were given to people who stigmatised Romanies as ”apemen“. Taking all these things into consideration, the German Government still deports people to Hungary. The same is true for the inhuman circumstances that people flee from which are caused by economic exploitation and an uneven balance of power.
Therefore, the differentiation between ”economic“ and ”political“ refugees is an elegant way of building a fortress; it also allows to refuse any protection to a majority of refugees.
Experience has shown that solidarity can develop from contact between refugees and people with a German citizenship or people with a residence permit. There are many initiatives and people that are in contact with those affected. There needs to be more solidarity, however, to achieve something!
Let's take to the streets!
Let's show our solidarity!
Let's show that we do not want deportations from Freiburg and that we will not tolerate them!
Supporting an “open Freiburg city without deportations“!
Solidarity with those affected!
