German Chancellor Angela Merkel is set to introduce new measures aimed at speeding up the deportation of failed asylum seekers. The plans come as her party tries to project a tougher line on immigration and border security ahead of elections in September.Two recent terror attacks in Germany – a truck attack at a Berlin Christmas market and a suicide bombing, the country’s first, in Ansbach – were carried out by migrants whose asylum bids had been rejected but who had not been deported. Both attackers had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group.Merkel is meeting the leaders of the country’s 16 federal states on Thursday evening to discuss a 16-point plan aimed at addressing shortcomings in the deportation system, which is currently handled at the state level.According to a report leaked to German media, the measures include:
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- A federal center for coordinating deportations across the country
- Exit centers near airports where rejected asylum seekers can be prepared for deportation
- Giving officials access to asylum seekers’ phones to verify their identities
- Increased financial incentives for migrants who return home voluntarily. Germany already pays travel costs and sometimes startup costs for those who choose to return of their own volition