The chairman of the German Police Union (GdP), Jochen Kopelke, has expressed strong criticism of plans by Hessian Interior Minister Roman Poseck (CDU) to enforce deportations through the police.
Kopelke told the “Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland” that Poseck intends for police to carry out deportations with extensive new powers. He argues that because the foreign‑affairs authorities are not fulfilling their duties, the police should be allowed to locate, observe and arrest persons subject to removal. The police would essentially emulate the “vicious people‑hunting” tactics of the U.S. ICE agency-an approach the GdP rejects.
“The police are meant to protect citizens against threats and combat crime” Kopelke said. “Foreign‑affairs authorities and the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees must finally resolve their enforcement gaps instead of misusing the police for surveillance and phone‑tracking. That would undermine crime control, counter‑terrorism and rapid response”.
He added that police should be empowered to enforce the thousands of outstanding arrest warrants against criminals, rather than taking on the duties of migration authorities.
Poseck, on Thursday in Wiesbaden, presented the state’s deportation figures for January and announced he would push for a legal basis at the next Interior Ministers Conference that would allow police to use phone‑location and surveillance tools on individuals facing removal. According to Poseck, most deportation failures occur because the target is not found at their residential address-hence the need for “technical means” to locate them.
