ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - More than 1,000 Iraqi nationals required to leave Germany have been linked to criminal cases in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia, the state's refugee ministry said on Friday, following a police review of thousands of deportation files.
"The investigation revealed that of the 6,800 individuals whose files were examined, 2,100 were involved in crimes. Nearly 1,100 were on the list of Iraqi citizens' files, and 1,000 were on the list of Balkan countries' files,” a spokesperson for the Ministry for Migration and Refugees of North Rhine-Westphalia told Rudaw’s Kehy Mahmoud, noting that “overall, these 12,000 crimes were committed by these 2,100 individuals."
The figures stem from a review by North Rhine-Westphalia's State Criminal Police Office of around 6,800 people from Iraq and the Western Balkans who were required to leave Germany. German media reported this week that around 2,100 of them had appeared in police investigative records linked to approximately 12,000 cases.
It remains unclear how many of the investigations resulted in criminal charges or convictions.
The review comes amid intense debate in Germany over migration, deportations and crime involving migrants, following a decade of large-scale migration from the Middle East and elsewhere.
The state's criminal investigation agency had previously stated that these offenses "range from theft to drug crimes, sexual assault, and bodily harm." The 6,800 people were included on lists compiled by immigration authorities in 2024 to facilitate deportations, but many of the removals were not carried out for various reasons.
The review followed controversy surrounding the so-called "Coesfeld list," which contained the names of hundreds of people from Western Balkan countries who were required to leave Germany.
The Central Immigration Authority in Coesfeld had offered Cologne authorities assistance in obtaining travel documents for 471 people to facilitate their removal. Cologne later acknowledged communication failures in its handling of the offer.
The controversy intensified following a violent clash between families in Cologne in early August. Initial media reports linked members of one of the families to the Coesfeld list, but German public broadcaster WDR later corrected its reporting, saying those involved in the clash were not on the list.
The latest figures come as German authorities continue to face challenges in processing asylum applications and establishing the identities and origins of some applicants who arrive without identification documents.
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