At the start of the 2024 European election campaign, German politician Marc Jongen is running for the right-wing populist party AfD. In his campaign speech, he said that the illegal entry of migrants must be stopped in Germany and that migrants who have already entered the country must be returned to their home countries. He claimed that the UK was already leading the way. EUFactcheck has investigated what the migration policy in the UK is actually all about and comes to the conclusion that the statement is “mostly false”.
On April 27, 2024, the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party kicked off its campaign for this year’s European elections in Donaueschingen. Back in July 2023, Marc Jongen was elected to sixth place on the list for entry into the European Parliament – if the party gets six seats or more, he will be entitled to one of them. As deputy state spokesperson for the AfD in Baden-Württemberg and a long-standing party member, he gave a speech at the launch event. Among other things, he spoke about migration policy in Germany and said the following: “We must prevent illegal entries from taking place at all and if they do, people must be returned to their countries”. Immediately afterwards, he claimed: “Great Britain is leading the way”. These quotes can be found from minute 1:50 to minute 2:05 on YouTube. There are no further specific statements on the topic of migration. The following section examines the UK’s migration policy and whether migrants are actually being returned to their home country.
New British asylum law: everyone must go to Rwanda
Marc Jongen’s statement tends to be wrong and makes the UK’s new asylum law seem more radical than it is. One could take his statement to mean that those who have entered the country illegally will be consistently returned to their home country – but this is not true. Under the Conservative government of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, the “Rwanda Deal” was passed on April 23, 2024. This states that all migrants who do not have a previously confirmed asylum certificate and still arrive on the island will be systematically deported to Rwanda. They are to be received in the African country and given the opportunity to apply for asylum. It also states that illegal entrants can be punished with 28 days in prison and automatically lose their right to asylum in the UK. These harsh measures are intended to deter migrants from entering the country illegally.
Marc Jongen’s statement is correct in that he implies that the UK government is tougher than the German government when it comes to migration policy. However, repatriation to the home country does not take place, as is clear from the statement. The AfD politician is in favor of “returning” migrants already living in Germany to their home country. However, this would be illegal if there was a war or other danger in the country.
Controversial politics in the UK
The government in the UK has been led by the center-right Conservative Party since 2010. Prime Minister Sunak, who also belongs to the Conservative Party, has been in office since 2022. In 2022, an initial memorandum of understanding on the resettlement of asylum seekers was also signed. However, this agreement with Rwanda was overturned by the Supreme Court in London at the end of 2023. One of the reasons for this was that Rwanda was not a safe third country due to shortcomings in the asylum system, reports the German daily newspaper taz. This was followed by the new agreement, which classified Rwanda as a safe third country. After approval by the Supreme Court, this was then passed as law in April 2024. However, there is harsh criticism and dissenting voices. Members of the Council of Europe criticize the asylum pact because it raises questions about the human rights of asylum seekers, reports the German news channel “Welt”. Furthermore, such a process should always be carried out in accordance with international standards. The Supreme Court in London has also declared the pact unlawful, as there are doubts about a fair asylum procedure in Rwanda. Another point of criticism is the high cost. London is paying Rwanda the equivalent of around 584 million euros. According to estimates by the London Audit Office, this could add up to more than hundreds of thousands of euros per asylum seeker.
The new law shows that migrants are being deterred and that the number of people entering the UK illegally by boat or plane will have fallen significantly by 2023. However, this does not prevent these people from leaving their country of origin.
Possible for Germany?
Marc Jongen is in favor of dealing with illegal entrants in the same way as the UK does now. So, could such an asylum pact also be enforced in Germany? That is rather unlikely. As Germany is a member of the EU, EU law applies to all asylum procedures. This severely restricts the possibility of processing asylum procedures abroad. Of the 27 EU member states, only Dublin has a stricter asylum procedure. Furthermore, the conditions of the Geneva Refugee Convention and the EU Convention on Human Rights apply. In addition, the current coalition government has decided that migrants may only be sent back to third countries to which they have a certain connection by means of a so-called “connection criterion”. For example, where they have stayed for a longer period of time. Since May 14, 2024, the EU has sealed stricter asylum rules, in which asylum law has also been significantly tightened, but even then EU member states can only send migrants to safe third countries such as Tunisia or Albania. Another prerequisite is that there must be a connection to these third countries, for example through relatives or by studying there.
Conclusion
After examining the new asylum law in the UK and the new regulations for illegal immigrants to the country, it has been established that the statement by AfD politician Marc Jongen is mostly false. The asylum law in the UK does not lead migrants “back” to their home country but deports them to Rwanda.
RESEARCH | ARTICLE | Annabelle Krause and Franziska Zeller, Hochschule der Medien Stuttgart (Germany)
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