Seven years after the flood of people in August 2015, when more than a million refugees from the Middle East arrived in Germany, the immigration emergency has arisen. Since the beginning of 2022, Berlin has received around 140,000 asylum applications (up 35% compared to 2021) and the fatigue of the German mayors is palpable: since the beginning of the Russo-Ukrainian war, the Federal Republic has taken in a million Ukrainians who do not have to apply for refugee status with the authorities to attempt. An exception disputed by many administrators reading an incentive to come to Germany. As early as September, the municipalities had warned Chancellor Olaf Scholz that they had reached their capacity limits. But the government is tired too: Yesterday, Repubblica wrote, Berlin let out its anger at the German Evangelical Church, which it says is “guilty” of financial organizations like United4Rescue, whose ships facilitate the landing of irregular migrants on the southern coasts of Europe.
In France, the media has been focusing for days on the law to tighten immigration signed by Interior Ministers Gérald Darmanin and Labor Minister Olivier Dussopt. As Le Monde explains, out of the 122,000 unlawful expulsion orders (OQTF) issued in 2021, only 10% have been enforced, the two ministers proposed increasing the number of categories in which an OQTF can be appealed to a judge by reduce twelve to four. “From now on we will record all OQTFs in the search file. It’s not about reintroducing the crime of illegal residence,” Darmarin told Le Monde, “but about counting all exits by foreigners.” In France, most illegal immigrants entered the country legally but stayed after their visa or residence permit had expired, the newspaper explains. For example, Dahbia B., the 24-year-old Algerian accused of torturing and killing Lola Daviet, the 12-year-old was found dead in a suitcase in Paris at the end of October. Dahbia B. was also affected by an unexecuted OQTF. According to the Darmarin and Dussopt project, in Parliament’s vote from 2023 onwards, the irregular who knows how to carry out a job that is in high demand could instead remain, provided, however, that the person passes some French texts. Measures reminiscent of the tougher measures passed months ago by the Social Democrat government in Denmark and those being drafted by the new executive in Sweden, a centre-right coalition with external support from the local sovereign party. Spain also has a problem with deportations: Aprog, the association of representatives of the Guardia Civil, has criticized the government in recent hours for the deportations of people who manage to climb the high fences around Ceuta and Melilla, the two Spanish enclaves cross, would not consummate on Moroccan soil. A Madrid-Rabat deal obliges Morocco to take back those who managed to override, but since that doesn’t happen “there is an incentive to do so,” says Aprog. On June 24, 67 men, mostly Sudanese, were killed when Moroccan police intervened to stop a race by 1,500 young people towards the Spanish territory of Melilla.