Germany Deports First Group of Asylum Seekers Back to Afghanistan

The German government has began deporting the first group of Afghan refugees whose asylum application have been rejected. The controversial move has led to to protests at Frankfurt’s airport, but the government is determined to increase its effort to send failed asylum seekers back home and the next plane to Afghanistan has already been chartered for January.

Afghans are the second biggest group of asylum seekers in Germany after Syrians, according to the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees.

The plan to send failed asylum seekers to Afghanistan is based on an agreement Germany signed with the Afghan government in October. But refugee organizations say the plan will benefit the government rather than the people who are being sent back, many of whom are unable to return to their homes because of the increase in violence in the country. Human rights defenders and activists are also deeply skeptical about the German government’s plans to spend 150 million euros on incentives for asylum seekers to return home voluntarily.