On Friday, December 16, 2011, Ljuljeta Ademaj from Emden arrived at the registry office in Freiburg to marry her husband to be. Unfortunately the ceremony never took place. Ljuljeta Ademaj was arrested and taken to Schwäbisch Gemünd in handcuffs. On January 12, 2012 she was deported from Baden Airport, organized by the Karlsruhe Regional Council after living in Germany for 20 years under the toleration status. Unfortunately hers is not a unique situation. In 1999 the Kurd editor Ömer Polat was arrested at the registry office in Markdorf and then deported to Turkey despite assurances by German authorities that he was safe.
Arrests in registry offices are staggeringly frequent. They are based on instructions by the federal government to monitor and report people’s status. In the opinion of legal advocate Rittstieg, these instructions are “the product of a totalitarian monitoring delusion”. In 1991, at the height of the pogrom against migrants, this procedure was part of the the immigration laws.
Due to the Residence Act, every public authority (except schools and hospitals) is obligated to inform the foreign registration office and surrender information concerning individuals who may be in violation of the law. With every possible violation being reported, the status of a resident is constantly in danger. Those affected by this form of surveillance are those without rights or property in this country. This amounts to about 86.000 people here under the term toleration (Duldung) and 46.000 people with a limited humanitarian right of residence.
This limited right of residence is linked to the personal financial situation. 14.000 people across the country and 370 people in Freiburg face deportation if their rights of residence are not extended. In the near future members of the Roma minority currently under the status of toleration will be in danger of deportation. Across Germany this amounts to over 11.000 people, and approximately 100 in Freiburg. People from various countries across the globe are at risk for deportation.
In August 2011, Interior Minister Gall committed to not carrying out deportations from Baden-Württemberg to Serbia or Kosovo. This commitment is set to expire in part due to a January 2012 trip in which the petition committee of Baden-Württemberg embarked on a four-day long delegation trip to Kosovo.
The report issued by the delegation and its political impact will be an important part of the discourse. We have to be ready for anything. A residence permit cannot be tied to a political situation in the home country or any specific qualifications of the person seeking asylum.
In Freiburg alone, 1.700 people and more than 40 organizations have rejected the deportations in what they call the Appeal of Freiburg. Now is the time to spring into action. We will protect those people and will not allow their deportation. We will intervene, if necessary.
We’ve reached a consensus. Whoever wants to stay in this country should be allowed to stay. Specific plans of action have been drawn up by three organizations – Tag X, the Patenschafts-Netzwerk and the Kirchenasyl. They still need your support and everybody is welcome to join.
On February 11, we’d like to voice our rejection of the deportation policy and march on the anniversary of the events in Dessau: during a memorial march for the 7th anniversary of the death of Oury Jalloh, demonstrators were attacked by the police because they carried a banner saying, „Oury Jalloh – It was murder!“ Oury Jalloh from Sierra Leone had burned to death – handcuffed in a Dessau jail cell. This attack on demonstrators shows how much violence and racism are an integral part of the police machine. We show solidarity with the Initiative Oury Jalloh and demand a thorough reexamination of the death of Oury Jalloh.