Germany news: Ministers discuss refugee deportation rules

Germany news: Ministers discuss refugee deportation rules Published June 17, 2026last updated June 17, 2026What you need to know - German interior ministers meeting in Hamburg - Hamburg minister calls for lower deportation threshold for refugees - Germany and Poland marking 35 years of cooperation Welcome to DW's coverage of what's making the news in Germany on Wednesday, 17 June, 2026. You can catch up with yesterday's developments here. Tired of missing our real-time updates? Click here to add us as a Preferred Source on Google. Then tap the "Star" or "Preferred" to keep DW News at the top of your feed. Around 4 million refugees in Germany — statistical agency Approximately 4 million refugees were living in Germany in 2025, almost half of whom were from Syria or Ukraine, according to new figures released by the Federal Statistics Office on Wednesday. The figures include 713,000 older people who are still technically considered refugees having fled to Germany from former German territories in eastern Europe between the end of the Second World War and 1950. Of the 3.3 million other refugees, 55% are male and 45% are female, with an average age of 39, according to the figures. One quarter (25%) were born in Ukraine while 22% were born in Syria. Refugees make up the highest proportion of the population in the small western states of Bremen (7.3%), Hamburg (6.3%) and the Saarland (5.7%). The highest proportions of refugees in Germany's more populated states can be found in Hesse (4.8%) and North Rhine-Westphalia (4.6%). In the capital, Berlin, 4.5% of the population are refugees. Refugees make up the lowest proportion of the population in the eastern German states of Saxony (3.1%), Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Brandenburg (2.5% each) – areas, counter-intuitively, with some of the highest support for the anti-immigration and anti-refugee Alternative for Germany (AfD) party. The total population of Germany at the end of 2025 was around 83.5 million. Hamburg minister calls for lower deportation threshold The regional interior ministers of Germany's 16 federal states are meeting in the northern city of Hamburg on Wednesday to begin their three-day biannual Interior Minister Conference (Innenministerkonferenz or IMK). The conference, which is also being attended by federal Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt (CDU), is being chaired by Hamburg's Interior Minister Andy Grote (SPD), who has called for a lower threshold for the deportation of refugees who commit crimes in Germany. "When it comes to the deportation of criminals, we have to lower the legal hurdles for people with protected status – regardless of their country of origin," Grote told the RND news network ahead of the IMK, adding that this applies to refugees from Syria, Afghanistan and also Ukraine. "We can't explain to our population why some people who repeatedly commit serious crimes are still allowed to stay," he said. "If people who enjoy protection here don't lose their right to residency even after serious crimes and jail sentences, the overall acceptance of protection for refugees will also suffer, especially if a recognized refugee then goes on to commit a serious crime such as murder or a terror attack." Welcome to our coverage Guten Morgen! Welcome to our coverage of what Germany is talking about on Wednesday, 17 June, 2026. Germany's regional interior ministers are meeting in Hamburg for their biannual conference on domestic affairs. High on the agenda at the three-day gathering: immigration and state benefits. To coincide with the Interior Minister Conference (IMK), we are also expecting the latest refugee figures from the Federal Statistics Office. Meanwhile, Germany and neighbors Poland are marking 35 years of cooperation with a series of events in Berlin and Warsaw.