Germany will on Tuesday, March 16 deport the first set of Nigerians illegally staying in Germany as the country begins a massive clamp down on illegal immigrants in the country.
According to the Network for Critical Migration Consciousness (NfCMC, the deportation operation will be the first for this year since the initial plan for January 18, 2021 was cancelled.
While hosting a delegation of the Nigerian Community at the Nigerian embassy in Berlin in February, Ambassador Yusuf Tuggar said the Nigerian government had refused landing permit to any deportation flights pending COVID.
The Nigerian government had taken that stance following Tuggar’s intervention in December 2020, after he held a 4-hour Zoom meeting with the Nigerian Community in Germany. But it appears the doomsday can no longer be further postponed.
The NfCMC in a statement advised Nigerians not too sure of their residential statuses, or those on the so-called Duldung Status (Tolerated/Obligated to Leave the Country), to contact their lawyers or their asylum counseling centers.
“Please take note that police arrest is ongoing based on the German Foreigners Law provision that permits the taking of persons into custody so as to guarantee their availability for a planned deportation enforcement flight,” the organization posted on its website.
It lamented that Nigerians under Germany’s Voluntary Return Program (VRP)—who are undergoing courses prior to leaving voluntarily—may be forced to volunteer for deportation, as their passports are in Germany’s custody.
“With our experience from the December 10, 2020 deportation enforcement, two young Nigerian males who had trusted the deceptive Voluntary Return Program and were obviously co-operative in the entire process, were unfortunately arrested at midnight prior to the deportation flight schedule and deported brutally to Nigeria empty-handed,” the group said, calling the program “racist” and “a farce.”
Noting that being on the VRP does not imply a suspension of deportation, the group asked Nigerians in Germany to “spread this information as we stay in solidarity to demand a stop to any act of racist discrimination, deportation and colonial continuity in Germany and Europe.”