Berlin: Nearly 55,000 migrants who were not eligible for or were likely to be denied asylum left Germany voluntarily in 2016, up by 20,000 from the number who left of their own volition in 2015, the government said.
“That’s a considerable increase from last year,” Interior Ministry spokesman Harald Neymanns said. The 2016 figure had climbed to 54,123 through December 27. “The increase is welcome. It’s always preferable when people leave the country voluntarily instead of being deported.” A Finance Ministry spokesman said the government would boost funding slightly to ¤150m in 2017 to support efforts to encourage people to leave Germany. Germany has toughened its stance on immigration in recent months, prompted by concerns about security and integration after admitting more than 1.1 million migrants from the Middle East, Africa and elsewhere since early 2015. Last week a failed asylum seeker who had sworn allegiance to the Islamic State militant group killed 12 people when he rammed a truck into a Christmas market in Berlin, fuelling growing criticism of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s immigration policy.
German officials said the number of those deported after their asylum requests were rejected rose to almost 23,800 from January to November - up from almost 20,900 in 2015.
