On Friday morning (August 30), 28 criminals will be deported to Afghanistan. A federal support program will give them each 1,000 euros in “hand money.”
A deportation flight to Afghanistan took off from Leipzig/Halle airport on Friday morning, August 30. On board: 28 Afghan criminals, including, according to the newspaper “Welt” information, a man who is said to have raped an eleven-year-old girl in Baden-Württemberg. Other sex offenders from other federal states are also said to have been on board.
At 6:56 a.m., the Qatar Airways charter flight took off for Kabul – the first deportation flight to Afghanistan since the Taliban seized power three years ago. According to information from the newspaper “Spiegel”, each of these passengers received 1,000 euros “hand money” before departure – in this case 28,000 euros for the entire flight. Which leads to the question: Why does Germany pay money to people who are presumably being deported legally – including serious criminals?
The answer probably lies in a program run by the Federal Ministry of the Interior with the catchy name REAG/GARP. These two abbreviations actually stand for two projects: the “Reintegration and Emigration Program for Asylum-Seekers in Germany” and the “Government Assisted Repatriation Program”.
Program also finances trips to the airport
The program is designed to provide financial assistance to people who are deported or who voluntarily leave the country. It is also intended to provide them with a financial cushion when they return home.
Among other things, travel costs from the place of residence to the place of departure, for example a train station or airport, can be approved. There is also a so-called travel allowance of 200 euros per person. During the journey, those deported or leaving the country are entitled to medical support, such as a wheelchair service. In the destination country, this support can be continued for up to three months for a maximum of 2,000 euros. In addition, there is the right to a “one-off grant” of 1,000 euros per person or a maximum of 4,000 euros per family – the so-called “hand money”.
Asylum seekers who meet one of the following conditions may apply for assistance from the REAG/GARP programme in connection with their departure from Germany:
- You have expressed a request for asylum but have not yet submitted an application.
- You are in an ongoing asylum procedure.
- Your asylum application has been rejected and you are demonstrably required to leave the country.
- You are entitled to asylum or have a temporary suspension of deportation but would like to leave the country.
- You have entered Germany through family reunification to join a person who is eligible for REAG/GARP funding.
- You are a victim of human trafficking or forced prostitution.
People who have one or more EU citizenships are not eligible. The Interior Ministry did not respond to a query as to whether and to what extent the deported Afghans had applied for the funding.