Several German federal states are planning to increase the number of detention spaces for individuals facing deportation, according to a report in “Welt”.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Refugees and Integration in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) stated that there is a nationwide – and thus also within NRW – increase in the need for detention capacity. The number of individuals subject to deportation held at the detention facility in Büren rose by almost 40 percent from 2023 to 2024. “The capacity of other federal states is also regularly exhausted” the spokesperson added. As of August 5th, 151 individuals subject to deportation were being held at the Büren facility, representing approximately 86 percent occupancy of its 175 available spaces.
NRW intends to create additional detention spaces at a new facility in Mönchengladbach. Bavaria plans to do so at a new location in Passau and Saxony-Anhalt is focusing on Volkstedt. Volkstedt, a state previously without its own detention facility, is slated to house 30 spaces. The Bavarian plans for Passau include 100 detention spaces for men facing deportation, with the option to utilize a planned new building for either pre-trial or deportation detention. “An additional accommodation building with a further 100 detention spaces can be used flexibly for the execution of pre-trial and prison sentences or deportation detention” a spokesperson for the Bavarian Ministry of the Interior stated.
Brandenburg’s Interior Ministry indicated that it is currently evaluating the anticipated need for capacity and conceptual considerations for a deportation detention facility within the state. Rhineland-Palatinate intends to utilize its own capacity in the future, rather than making spaces available to other states. A spokesperson for the Schleswig-Holstein Ministry of Justice stated that an expansion is planned for the Glückstadt facility, bringing its maximum capacity to 60 spaces, contingent on sufficient staffing.
Currently, eleven of Germany’s sixteen federal states have their own deportation detention facilities. Thuringia joined this group this week with an initial ten spaces, which are planned to be increased to 37. This brings the total number of such facilities nationwide to twelve (with Bavaria operating two), totaling nearly 790 spaces. Hamburg, the Saarland and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern plan to continue utilizing detention spaces in other federal states.
According to a survey conducted by “Welt” among the federal states, the current number of deportation detention spaces are as follows: Hamburg – 21 spaces in Glückstadt (16) and Darmstadt (5); NRW – 175 in Büren; Baden-Württemberg – 51 in Pforzheim; Lower Saxony – 48 in Hanover; Bavaria – 240 across Eichstätt and Hof; Berlin – 10; Bremen – 17; Saxony – 58; Hesse (Darmstadt) – 80; Rhineland-Palatinate (Ingelheim) – 40; and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern – 14 at the Schleswig-Holstein deportation detention center in Glückstadt.
