A new deportation prison for rejected asylum seekers is to be built in Mönchengladbach in North Rhine-Westphalia. This would cost a whopping 313 million euros. The state of North Rhine-Westphalia justified its establishment with the attack in Solingen in 2024 and is part of the Federal Republic's increasingly harsh crackdown on migrants and refugees. – A comment from Emil Glücklich.

313 million euros – you could do a lot with that much money. For example, around 8,300Daycare placescreate, 1,800Social housingbuild or finance 5,000 additional nursing homes. However, the new one costs 313 million eurosDeportation prison, which is to be built in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW).

The prison is to be built on a former military site. This emerges from the state government's response to a small question from the SPD parliamentary group in Düsseldorf. In order for the construction to actually take place, the Federal Council, Bundestag and Federal Ministry of Finance must give their approval.

The money will come from the security package agreed upon by the CDU and the Greens after the attack in Solingen and roughly half of the budgetuse up. This is exactly why the SPD criticized the project. She criticized the slow and still imprecise planning, while the Greens drew attention to the resulting environmental damage.

Attack in Solingen as a pretext for building the prison and internal turning point

In August 2024, an Islamic fundamentalist attacked a festival in Solingen with a knife and murdered three people. Various parties and politicians then used this attack as an opportunity to push ahead with internal armament - particularly at the expense of migrants and refugees.

Deportations and surveillance – the answer to Solingen?

Green politicians, for example, published onePosition paper, in which they called for “protective measures” such as more and faster deportations, an expansion of border controls and more money and powers for the police and the Office for the Protection of the Constitution.

The federal government also made such demands in one“Security package”around. This envisaged tightening of gun laws, additional powers for security authorities, tightening of residence laws and restrictions on services for rejected asylum seekers.

Not the first step: tightening at all levels

The state of North Rhine-Westphalia also announced the construction of the new deportation prison after the attack in Solingen. However, the construction of a new deportation prison is not the only measure that has been taken to the detriment of refugees in recent years.

This represented a major step at EU levelCEAS reformwhich came into force in June 2026 and represents the de facto abolition of the right to asylum. This means that refugees can now be held in detention centers at the EU's external borders. In addition, many applications will in future be examined in accelerated procedures with significantly less legal protection. This poses an increased risk of false rejections, as individual case assessment and judicial review are restricted.

Effective abolition of the right to asylum: The federal government's plans with the CEAS reforms

In addition, people can now be accommodated in reception centers for secondary migration procedures, also known as the Dublin procedure, for up to 24 months. This applies if a person has entered the country illegally across the border of another EU country or if another country is responsible for the asylum application. This is almost always the case with countries like Germany, which are surrounded by other countries. “Asylum detention” can also be imposed. The person concerned is then not allowed to leave the center freely. This can also affect children.

Another example of how refugees are criminalized and excluded in Germany is the introduction of thePayment card. Only refugees receive these; they can only use them to pay at selected locations, only withdraw a limited amount of cash and cannot transfer money abroad.

Internal rearmament instead of social politics

The new deportation prison in North Rhine-Westphalia shows two things above all: Firstly, politicians have no problems releasing 313 million euros if it fits their political course. If, on the other hand, the same amount is used for social welfare, the need to save money is suddenly invoked.

Budget draft for 2027: record spending for the Bundeswehr, cuts in the social sector

Secondly, now, more than two years after the attack in Solingen, it should be clear to everyone: politicians are using it primarily as an opportunity to push forward a law-and-order policy internally that goes far beyond the reaction to a single act. Against the background of multiple crises and Germany's ongoing preparations for war, this internal rearmament is increasingly becoming a necessity for the ruling class: those who rely on confrontation in foreign policy need control in domestic policy - over protest, over resistance, over all those who could oppose this development. In this sense, deportation prisons, expanded police powers and stricter residence rights are not isolated reactions to Solingen, but rather building blocks of a more comprehensive formation of the state apparatus.

Accompanied by the rise of fascist forces, the entire bourgeois spectrum - from the CDU to the Greens - is now using the same racist agitation to enforce this policy in society. The deportation prison in Mönchengladbach is less an exception than a symptom.

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