Germany is now proof Farage's deportation flights pledge can work

 

Joseph is hiding from Germany's deportation police. He is living in a small room borrowed from a friend, only daring to go out once a week for a secret visit to church.

Even then, he gets a lift from a fellow worshipper rather than braving public transport. 'I am driven to the church and back,' he whispers down the phone to me. 'I cannot go on the tram, the train or the bus because the police may see me. They want to take me to the airport and deport me back to Nigeria.'

Joseph, a talented musician, appears to be a decent man, but he is unlikely to get much sympathy in Germany. The country has turned its back on mass immigration as the economy falters, crime soars and the government shells out 'refugee-related expenses', including benefits, of £25 billion a year.

He is among the millions who entered after Chancellor Angela Merkel's momentous decision in 2015 to open Germany's borders to Syrian refugees – and, as it turned out, those of any country who knocked.

One in five of the migrants claim benefits. Nearly half of those who arrived never went to school in their home country or left before passing any exams, so they can only find menial jobs. Two out of three of the female arrivals are unemployed. In schools, teachers are faced with teenagers (some of whom have been here since they were babies) who struggle with the most basic German.

Today, Joseph finds the tables have turned on him. Germany has had a 'seine Meinung andern' – a change of mind – after letting in so many migrants. And, like many others, he has gone to ground.

Chancellor Friedrich Merz announced this week that the German welfare state is no longer sustainable for either its own people or the millions of Merkel newcomers. The welcome is over and deportations come top of the political agenda.

Every week, the authorities put migrants on flights to their home countries, some of them the very people greeted by Merkel's supporters waving banners and balloons ten years ago.

The Mail has been shown details of recent deportation flight lists. Earlier this month, at 7am, a group of migrants was put on a government-chartered aircraft leaving Frankfurt for Nigeria and Ghana. A day later, another plane left for Serbia and North Macedonia. There have been multiple flights from various German airports to Iraq, Georgia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Serbia, and Moldova.

In August last year came the first flight to Afghanistan carrying away violent criminals, offenders, and terror supporters. Each received £850 in cash to go. The German government used Middle East intermediaries to arrange the deportation with the Taliban. A further 15,000 Afghanis are now listed for deportation, some of them suspected of terror-linked offences.

Our informant added bitterly: 'They also hope to deport Syrians despite their country being in turmoil after the recent coup and the fact they were being invited in first. Germany has become a wolf in sheep's clothing.' In truth, the deportations are mired in legal red tape. The German government this week, showing frustration, threatened to strip asylum seekers' of the right to an immigration lawyer in an effort to remove more – and faster. Alexander Throm, a senior MP in the Chancellor's Christian Democrats party said: 'Many deportations fail due to various legal obstacles.

'Also, if people go into hiding or can't be found, the police may give up trying to arrest them.' German state TV recently aired a compelling documentary on the reality of deportations by following a team from the Foreigners' Authority based in Brandenburg, north-east Germany.
The aim of the film was to assure Germans that action is being taken. However, it also revealed a system that is creaking under the weight of the work.

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