Asylum policy | Politicians dismayed by the deportation of a Tamil family

Once again a family is torn from their life in Germany and deported. Photo: imago/Martin Müller A well-integrated six-member Tamil family from Sri Lanka is to be repatriated to their homeland. The father and the eldest daughter (19), who would have graduated from high school next year, were flown out on October 16th at the request of the Leverkusen immigration office.

Meanwhile, the mother and two minor children are still waiting to be repatriated. They are still in Germany because another son is not yet reunited with the family. The 15-year-old was on a school trip during the planned repatriation and was able to escape to the church asylum in Duisburg, where he still is, according to the "Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung" (WAZ).

"The case shows us that we have still not managed to establish a clear line in our right of residence in Germany," said the SPD parliamentary group leader in the North Rhine-Westphalia state parliament, Jochen Ott, to the "WAZ". It cannot be the case that people who “want to make their contribution to our country” have to leave it.

The newly elected left-wing top candidate for the 2027 North Rhine-Westphalia state election, Alexandra Mehdi, made similar comments. "The inhumanity of the reality of deportation becomes apparent almost every day: 'legally correct procedures' are argued coldly, and then in individual cases crocodile tears are shed," she told "nd". The SPD and the Greens have opened the doors wide for exactly this in Brussels by tightening the Common Asylum System (GEAS). “It is high time for a change of perspective in the migration debate instead of implementing right-wing narratives,” says Mehdi.

“It is high time for a change of perspective in the migration debate instead of implementing right-wing narratives.”

Legally, the case seems clear: the family has no right of residence in Germany. The Cologne Administrative Court confirmed the deportation again last week. The mayor of Leverkusen also sees no errors in residence law on the part of his municipality and supports the immigration authorities. »The family's case has been examined in all administrative courts. All complaints were rejected,” Stefan Hebbel (CDU) told the “Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger”.

The deportation of the family was continued despite a vote by the country's hardship commission, which had spoken out in favor of the family remaining in Germany. Supporters recently called for the family's right to remain in Germany at a rally in front of the Leverkusen town hall. Likewise, the state parliament's petitions committee did not even wait until the case was finally dealt with on Tuesday. This caused anger and incomprehension in Düsseldorf and is likely to continue to concern state politics and the city council in Leverkusen.

SPD parliamentary group leader Ott now asked that the 15-year-old boy be allowed to return from the church asylum to his mother without him and his siblings being immediately arrested and deported. Ott appealed to the immigration authorities and the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (Bamf) to bring back her daughter, who had already been deported to Sri Lanka. After all, she should get her high school diploma here and “get involved in our society for all of us.”

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