BERLIN (AP) – Germany’s interior minister is suggesting the creation of “federal departure centers” to ease the deportation of rejected asylum-seekers and wants to centralize the country’s domestic intelligence agency.
They are part of a package of proposals following last month’s attack on a Berlin Christmas market.
The government has promised to examine whether laws need to be changed following the Dec. 19 attack that killed 12 people, in which a failed Tunisian asylum-seeker is the prime suspect. Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere set out his proposals in a guest article Tuesday in the daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
They centered on giving the federal government more authority on domestic security issues. De Maiziere called for better cooperation with state governments on deportations, suggesting federally run “departure centers” close to airports.