Karlsruhe Regional Department confirms deportation to Nigeria! Deportations is more important than fighting against Corona.

Despite the corona pandemic, the Regional Council in Karlsruhe is undauntedly preparing the next deportations to Nigeria. The Green-Christian government of Kretschmann is apparently not interested in the fact that the deportees might also be taken to countries of origin that have so far been largely spared by the pandemic.

That the deportation coordination department wants to execute the deportation enforcement to Nigeria on 14 April and 18 June at all costs became clear from a court decision of a rejected appeal for the release of two Nigerians in deportation Custody in view of the coronavirus danger. Staying in the deportation prison in Pforzheim does not pose any additional danger, since – as the prison director announced on March 16th – newly assigned prisoners would be tested on Corona and isolated on a separate floor until the test results were available.

Here it becomes clear that even more people are to be arrested in order to carry out the planned deportations to Nigeria and other West African states. The deportation department in Karlsruhe confirms to Radio Dreieckland that there is so far still flight possibilities to Nigeria. Detainees could only be released only if the federal police or the government of refugee country of origin communicate that deportation is no longer possible to the authorities. Accordingly, several persons have already been released in the past few days.

There are currently eight persons in the Pforzheim deportation Custody to include three Nigerians and people from Gambia, Ghana, Pakistan, Turkey, Russland and Greece.

Like everyone else, those imprisoned in Pforzheim must have the right to protect themselves from corona infection and also the right not to infect their fellow human beings. The prisoners fear an infection through prison employees (about 50 people), who may be infected with the viruses. However, they do not want to become the carriers of corona from the high risk area of Germany.

In an effort to stem the spread of the virus in a country that still cannot guarantee its citizens adequate medical care, the Nigerian government issued an entry ban on March 18th for visitors from countries with more than 1000 cases, highlighting Germany as one of the countries with a growing infection rate.

However, the Nigerian Embassy in Germany has at the same time supported the German authorities in preparing deportations. From March 16 to 20, alleged Nigerians were forcibly taken to the office of the German Federal Police in Karlsruhe for a deportation hearing with Nigerian embassy delegation who were expected to identify person presume  as Nigerians and issue deportation papers in facilitation of their deportation.

Unfortunately, the attitude of disregarding the human rights of Refugees during deportation is not new. That the health situation of prisoners in Pforzheim and deportees is endangered is unfortunately not new either. That deportations are more important than the protection of people from the corona epidemic has a new quality. Now it is not just about the deportees, now it is about the population of an entire continent.

The FC answers the question “Am I not contagious if the test result is negative?”:

“Even if the virus is undetectable, the infection can still develop. A negative test result during the incubation period is no guarantee that there is no infection.” (https://www.bz-berlin.de/berlin/quarantaene-ansteckung-schutz-opfer-100-fragen-und-antworten-zum-coronavirus)

Deported individuals can – despite a negative test – transmit the corona virus. With its deportation policy, the Kretschmann government increases the pandemic risk for an entire continent.

In view of the corona crisis, we demand even more strongly and immediately the release of all deportation prisoners and an end to deportations.

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