MEP Mary Khan of the right-wing German Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party will introduce a resolution in the European Parliament calling for EU funding and organisational assistance to help member states to repatriate Syrian migrants in light of the fall of the Assad regime.
In her motion for a resolution, seen by The European Conservative, Mary Khan emphasises that a significant amount of Syrians in Germany have named the Assad regime as their reason for seeking asylum in Europe, and now that the regime has collapsed, the EU should aid member states in returning these Syrian nationals once their right of residence has expired.
As we reported, many EU states have suspended the ongoing asylum procedures for Syrian migrants following the overthrow of President Bashar Al-Assad by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) jihadist group in the Middle Eastern country.
European countries believe the events should be a catalyst for many of the hundreds of thousands of Syrians that have sought asylum in Europe in the past decade to return home, as many of them cited persecution by the Assad regime as a reason for fleeing. Austria has even announced it would draw up deportation plans, which could affect thousands of Syrians in the near future.
Syrian nationals have been the largest group of asylum seekers in the EU every year since 2013. Last year, the number of Syrian first-time asylum applicants increased to 183,035 (from 131,790 in 2022).
In her resolution, Mary Khan stresses that the high numbers of asylum seekers cause a significant financial, social and cultural burden on member states. “There is a clear and growing demand by European citizens for the EU to impose stricter policies in the field of migration,” therefore, the European Commission should assist member states in sending Syrians back home, the document adds.
Her party’s recent electoral successes in regional elections, as well as the fact that the AfD is polling in second place before national elections in February, is driven by the demands of a growing number of German citizens for stricter immigration policies. Germany has had to grapple this year with a spate of knife crimes committed by mostly Syrian and Afghan migrants, some of whom turned out to be rejected asylum seekers, yet were able to stay in Germany.
In a recent post on her X account, Mary Khan highlighted some alarming numbers: in 2023 there were almost 35,000 Syrian suspected criminals in Germany, an increase of more than 21% compared to 2022. Sexual crimes committed by Syrians increased by 10%, violent crimes by 17%, theft crimes by almost 20%, and drug related crimes by 11%.
In a comment to The European Conservative, Mary Khan said:
Germany is host to approximately one million Syrians and statistics show that the majority of these rely on social benefits, significantly more than half. We can also see in official crime statistics that a significant number of Syrians are also suspects in criminal activity, including sexual and violent crimes, and that these figures are rising year on year.
The fear of the Assad regime, which served as the main reason for asylum in Germany, has become superfluous after recent developments in Syria. This was evident when Syrians in Germany celebrated the recent coup in Syria. I say that they can now do the same again in their “liberated” homeland!
This resolution, therefore, is asking for the EU to make amends for their past mistakes.
The EU opened the doors to millions of migrants allowing Member States to suffer the economic, social and cultural consequences. Now it must help our nations in returning these people home.
