(AFP) Germany said Friday it would allow deportation of Syrians to their war-ravaged homeland from 2021 if they are deemed a security risk, five years after a massive refugee influx.
The EU’s biggest economic power and most populous member allowed in hundreds of thousands of people fleeing Syria’s devastating civil war in 2015-16 but security officials said it was time to lift blanket protections against expulsion.
“The general ban on deportations (to Syria) will expire at the end of this year,” Hans-Georg Engelke, state secretary at the interior ministry, told reporters.
“Those who commit crimes or pursue terrorist aims to do serious harm to our state and our population should and will have to leave our country.”
