German cabinet approves draft law for swifter deportation of criminal foreigners

The German cabinet approved a draft law on Wednesday aimed at swifter deportation of criminal foreigners.

The legislation, principally authored by German justice minister Heiko Maas and interior minister Thomas de Maiziere, is designed to lower hurdles for deporting foreigners, including asylum seekers and refugees, who are sentenced to imprisonment or youth custody for causing bodily harm, resisting the orders of police officers, sex-related crimes, or the violation of personal property.

Whether or not the sentence is suspended on probation will play no role, according to the law.

In addition, Berlin intends to act more strictly than in the past in denying asylum seekers refugee status if they are sentenced to at least one year imprisonment due to the above-mentioned criminal offences.

The draft law follows recent revelations that many of the men who perpetrated a string of sexual assaults in the German city of Cologne on New Year's Eve were principally foreigners.

Maas said Wednesday that the move was not targeted at asylum seekers. On the contrary, "this also serves to protect the hundreds of thousands of refugees who live completely blameless among us. They do not deserve to be thrown in the same pot as criminals," he added. Endit