Syria asked Germany to halt the mass deportation of its citizens

The Syrian government formally requested that Germany not move forward with mass deportations of Syrian citizens, warning that the return of thousands of people could worsen the "humanitarian crisis" and generate new internal tensions.

The request was conveyed by Mohammed Yaqub al-Omar, director of the consular department of the Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who asked for more time for the reconstruction of the country after the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime. According to his explanation, 1.5 million people currently live in tent camps in the north of the country due to the destruction of homes, schools, roads, and basic services such as electricity and water.

From Damascus, officials maintain that a massive return from Germany could overwhelm an already weakened infrastructure, forcing thousands of repatriated people to settle in refugee camps. The central argument of the Syrian government is that the country still doesn't have sufficient structural conditions to absorb that volume of population.

In Germany, the issue has opened a strong political debate. Leaders of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its Bavarian ally, the Christian Social Union (CSU), maintain that the legal grounds for granting international protection ceased to exist after the end of the previous regime. Alexander Throm, domestic policy spokesperson for the CDU/CSU bloc, stated that the right of residence depends exclusively on the continued need for protection, and that this scenario changed after Assad's fall. He also argued that returns to safe areas are viable and that the reconstruction of the country should be led by its own citizens.

In the same vein, Marion Gentges, Minister of Justice and Migration in Baden-Württemberg, warned that Germany can't delay the expulsion of criminals and people considered dangerous. She pointed out that there is a clear interest in ensuring that individuals with serious criminal records leave German territory, even if this implies their return to Syria.

However, more cautious positions have also emerged within the governing coalition. Lawmakers from the Social Democratic Party (SPD) consider the Syrian request reasonable. Serdar Yüksel, president of the German-Turkish parliamentary group of the SPD, maintained that large areas of the country lack schools, hospitals, running water, and sanitation systems, and that in many places reconstruction is practically nonexistent.

The coalition agreement between CDU/CSU and SPD already provides for the resumption of deportations to Syria, starting with criminals and people classified as threats to public security. Nevertheless, a generalized expulsion policy has not yet been defined. From the opposition, the leader of Alternative for Germany (AfD), Alice Weidel, strongly criticized the position of the federal government and demanded an immediate deportation offensive.

Meanwhile, the voluntary return programs implemented last year in some federal states showed very low results. Despite offering financial incentives funded with public money, only a small proportion agreed to return to Syria.