FILE PHOTO. Michaela Rehle / Reuters
A migrant suspected of committing hundreds of crimes has been let roam free in the German city of Frankfurt because the authorities have been unable to establish his identity and country of origin for decades.
Little is known about the man, as no one knows his name, let alone his age or nationality. The only more-or-less verifiable fact known about him is that he arrived in Germany some 20 years ago, in 1998, without any identity documents. He has lived on the streets of German cities ever since and currently resides in Frankfurt, according to the German Bild daily.
The list of the crimes that the unidentified migrant has allegedly committed over this period is extensive. Some 542 criminal proceedings have been opened against him during these years, according to the German police.
"One third of the investigations were related to possession and purchase of drugs," Ruediger Buchta, a high commissioner with the Frankfurt police, told the German media, adding that the migrant's other alleged offenses included "fraudulent acquisition of services like fare dodging," as well as "assault, theft, robbery" and numerous "offenses against the Residence Act."
Despite being repeatedly detained, the man has successfully resisted deportation from Germany for all these years for one simple reason: the German authorities still do not know where to deport him. The man repeatedly claimed to be from one of the North African countries, Algeria and Morocco in particular. However, the authorities of these states did not confirm this information.
The migrant apparently refused to reveal his name or provide any other personal details to the German authorities. Database searches for his fingerprints also yielded no matches, leaving the German police in limbo.
Wouldn't a DNA search reveal where he came from? How is he allowed to walk the streets of Germany without ever identifying himself?
This quite bizarre case exposes flaws in the current German migration policy, Michael Seyfert, a migration spokesman of the right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, told RT.
"It is a failure of the system; it is a failure of the government," he said, adding that the German authorities simply "do not dare to [extradite people] as they are afraid of the left-wing media and… protests."
Various "NGOs… protest against it and even try to prevent [deportations] physically," Seyfert added. Almost every second deportation in Germany ends in failure, the German Die Welt daily's weekly edition reported, citing police data.
Out of 23,900 extraditions, which the German police should have carried out between January and May 2018, 12,800 failed for various reasons, according to Die Welt. The migrants, who ought to have been deported, often failed to turn up on time and just disappeared. However, in more than 500 cases, the deportees managed to successfully physically resist deportation, the daily said, adding that the number of such incidents doubled in comparison to the first five months of last year.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who has been repeatedly criticized for her 'open door policy' that partially led to the massive influx of migrants and asylum seekers in Germany during the refugee crisis, is apparently looking abroad for a solution to her domestic problems.
Merkel arrived to Senegal on Wednesday on the first leg of her three-day trip to West Africa, which is also scheduled to incorporate visits to Ghana and Nigeria. The chancellor met with Senegalese President Macky Sall and spoke about economic development and cooperation with Senegal, which is one of Africa's poorest countries.
Migration, however, apparently remained the underlying issue during the talks, as Merkel and Sall not only agreed on the need to combat human trafficking and stop smugglers who facilitate illegal migration to Europe, but also said that the development of African countries would be the best way to stem the influx of migrants to European countries.
This is what I have been saying for years.
For that purpose, Merkel, who was accompanied by a delegation of entrepreneurs working in the fields of electrification, automation and infrastructure, urged the German companies to invest more in Africa while citing China as an example. She also said that German businesses should combat a "negative perception" of Africa as a place where risks outweigh benefits.
Except the real problem in Africa is that corruption is everywhere and you can get absolutely nothing done without greasing the palms of many people.
Meanwhile, the clock is ticking for Merkel as Germans' patience is apparently gradually wearing thin. Most recently, the murder of a German man, which was allegedly committed by two asylum seekers of Syrian and Iraqi origin, has sparked a wave of violent protests in the German eastern city of Chemnitz.
The riots, in which right-wing radicals and leftists clashed with each other and with police, left 20 people injured. Later, an arrest warrant for one of the suspects was leaked to some right-wing groups, prompting suspicions that some of the local police officers are sympathetic to the far-right.
Police announced new data on the wounded at a news conference on Tuesday, as they briefed the press on the Monday evening unrest. Earlier, they said that people were hurt due to fireworks and other objects being thrown around. Around 600 security forces were deployed to the streets, struggling to keep the estimated 6,000-strong far-right rally separate from the group of 1,500 anti-fascist demonstrators.
Some 43 cases were launched for alleged assaults, use of banned organizations’ symbols, and misconduct on Monday, according to police.
The clashes were a follow-up to a mass protest on Sunday which saw far-right protesters and anti-Nazi counter-protesters hitting the streets of the eastern German city. The anger and frustration were sparked by the death of a 35-year-old German in a brawl that involved around 10 people from “various nationalities.”
The rival protests on Monday evening took place on Brueckenstrasse, the boulevard dividing the city center, and saw the opposing groups chanting “Merkel must go,” “Close the borders,” “Nazis out” and “Refugees are welcome here!”
The rally – which saw some far-right activists performing Nazi salutes – had remained relatively peaceful as the protesters initially only jeered at each other under the Karl Marx statue in the former socialist city. It started kicking off at around 9pm when demonstrators started mobilizing. Six people were reportedly injured and several detained by police in the mayhem.
While Merkel's spokesperson quickly sought to condemn Sunday’s violence, Interior Minister Horst Seehofer was slammed for his failure to say anything following days of protests.
Green party member Konstantin von Notz criticized the Christian Social Union (CSU) boss, telling t-online.de: “The fact that Horst Seehofer has been ignoring the incidents in Chemnitz for days is scandalous, and the Federal Interior Minister must ask himself whether the office is still the right one for him.”
The minister eventually broke his silence on Tuesday, two days after the fatal stabbing, which led to riots. Seehofer admitted that the Saxony police are in a “difficult situation” and offered assistance at the federal level “if requested.”
He also expressed his “deepest condolences” to the relatives and the loved ones of the dead man, adding that the sentiments of the people are “understandable.” At the same time, he added that such incidents “by no means justify calls for violence or riots,” which have “no place under the rule of law.”
The rallies come against a backdrop of criticism against Merkel over her ‘open door’ policy, which saw around a million undocumented refugees from Syria and Iraq allowed into Germany at the height of the migration crisis in 2015.
Opposition to Merkel’s migration policy witnessed a serious boost in the aftermath of the Cologne attacks in 2016, when an estimated 1,200 women were sexually harassed or assaulted. Police said many of those responsible were of “Arab or African appearance”, noting Germany had never seen such mass sexual assaults before.
Such anti-migrant sentiment spurred the growth of the right-wing and anti-immigrant movements such as PEGIDA and Alternative for Germany Party (AfD). The latter entered the national parliament for the very first time with 12.6 percent of the votes last year.
While its supporters were often labelled as ‘Nazis,’ the party maintained that it had nothing to do with the far-right, stressing that the government in Berlin has ignored concerns of the population for too long.
Merkel’s indiscriminate immigration policy has also raised concern refugees increase the risk to national security. Germany’s former intelligence chief last year called for an overhaul of border control to fend off an “uncomfortable” security situation.
August Hanning, who ran Germany’s Federal Intelligence Service (BND) from 1998 to 2005, told Sunday newspaper Bild am Sonntag there is an evident “link between internal security and efficient border control.”
Hanning, who has long been a critic of Merkel’s immigration policies, made the comments following the Berlin Christmas market terrorist attack in 2016. The attack killed 12 and injured more than 50. The perpetrator was Anis Amri, a Tunisian whose asylum application had been rejected.
“I believe everyone involved learned from that case, and things have improved a great deal,” Hanning said last year. “But as long as we let people come into the country without identity papers, without clear identity controls, we will have a big security problem.”
