Berlin’s immigration authorities are moving to deport four young foreign residents on allegations related to participation in protests against Israel’s war on Gaza, an unprecedented move that raises serious concerns over civil liberties in Germany.
The deportation orders, issued under German migration law, were made amid political pressure and over internal objections from the head of the state of Berlin’s immigration agency.
The internal strife arose because three of those targeted for deportation are citizens of European Union member states who normally enjoy freedom of movement between E.U. countries. None of the four has been convicted of any crimes.
“What we’re seeing here is straight out of the far right’s playbook,” said Alexander Gorski, a lawyer representing two of the protesters. “You can see it in the U.S. and Germany, too: Political dissent is silenced by targeting the migration status of protesters.”
We can agree on the final sentence. However, I find it exceedingly unlikely that we’ll arrive anywhere than at a terrible outcome if we continue compromising on both human rights-based asylum as well as on educational/professional migration. The way to remove irrational and inhumane sentiments from political discourse cannot be giving in to irrational demands gradually. The “center of the political spectrum” is not a place to stand on, it’s always shifting position, if you bind yourself to that, so are you. Political positions should instead be derived from scientific observation of reality and should then optimize for good outcomes for the largest number of people.
Having the means of deporting isn’t what I would call compromising both of these. Especially in the case at hand, where it isn’t about human rights-based asylum at all.
I wouldn’t call having the means of deporting irrational either. It also isn’t anything new, introduced under the pressure of the AfD for example, but always been a part of the asylum mechanisms that states reserved the opportunity to restrict it. Therefore, instead of fundamentally opposing something that always existed, I’d hence rather ensure that this restriction is protected from abuse.