Germany’s Interior Ministry has announced that Syrians convicted of serious crimes can be deported from 1 January 2021.

The Interior Ministry announced last Friday that Germany has decided not to renew its ban on deportations to war-ravaged Syria.

The decision was made at a meeting held by 16 German federal state interior ministers, who rejected calls from the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) to extend the ban.

Germany’s Deputy Interior Minister told the German newspaper Bild that Germany should not be a shelter for criminals. Consequently, from 1 January, courts will be able to decide on a case-by-case basis whether Syrian nationals convicted of crimes in Germany can be deported.

Germany’s Interior Minister Horst Seehofer told Bild: “It has been discussed with the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees that we will carefully examine every single case from 1 January 2021 and try to make a deportation possible”.