Surprise! Germany Wants Syrians to Leave – But They Are Refusing

Only about a third of working-age Syrians living in Germany are employed. The government is now attempting to send them back to Syria, since the reason they were allowed in was to escape the Bashar al-Assad regime, which is now gone. But less than 0.001% have accepted voluntary deportation.

Approximately 1.3 million Syrians currently live in Germany, including 25,000 born there. Chancellor Friedrich Merz and other conservatives in his coalition have called for their repatriation, arguing there are no longer grounds for asylum since Assad’s fall ended the civil war.

On March 30, speaking alongside Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa in Berlin, Merz said roughly 80% of Syrians in Germany should return home over the next three years, while acknowledging that well-integrated workers may stay. Al-Sharaa disputed the framing, saying Syrians have built new lives in Germany and that it would be difficult to start over, but that Western investment in Syria could draw them back voluntarily.

The response from Syrians in Germany has been near-total refusal. Since Assad’s fall, roughly 1,300 people, about 0.1%, have voluntarily returned, according to Germany’s interior ministry. Germany offered financial incentives of up to $4,300 per family to encourage voluntary departure, with negligible uptake.

A demonstration against the repatriation plan was held in Berlin the day al-Sharaa met with Merz, under the slogan “No deportation deals with human rights abusers.”

About 15% of Syrians in Germany have acquired German citizenship and cannot be deported. Syrian nationals with a residence permit also cannot be forced to leave. The German coalition agreement between Germany’s leading political parties, CDU/CSU and SPD, permits deportations, but only prioritizes criminals and public safety threats.

Deportations resumed in December 2025 on a limited scale, and no deportations of non-criminal Syrians have been carried out. Migration expert Daniel Thym has noted that once protection status is revoked, the individual has 15 months of legal appeals, and a full court challenge from the affected population would create gridlock.

These are not the “good immigrants” liberals always make up when defending illegal aliens and asylum seekers. As of August 2024, 513,534 Syrian nationals in Germany were receiving Bürgergeld, Germany’s state welfare payment. Syrians not on Bürgergeld receive housing and financial support under the Asylum Seekers’ Benefits Act, making welfare dependency near-universal among non-employed Syrians.

Germany spent nearly $54 billion on migrants in 2023. More than 70,000 people legally required to leave Germany were still receiving state benefits at the end of 2024, and as of February 28, 2026, Germany’s Central Register of Foreigners recorded 235,485 people as required to leave the country.

Syria’s Foreign Ministry warned Germany that mass returns could deepen the humanitarian crisis, with 1.5 million people already living in tent camps in northern Syria alone.

Ahmed al-Sharaa, who came to power following Assad’s fall, was himself a subject of controversy during the Berlin visit. Formerly known as Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, he was tasked in 2011 by al-Qaeda emir Ayman al-Zawahiri to establish al-Qaeda’s mission in Syria, forming the al-Nusra Front with direct allegiance to al-Qaeda’s central command. He cut organizational ties with al-Qaeda in 2016 and rebranded his movement as Hayat Tahrir al-Sham.

The UN lifted its terror-related sanctions on him in November 2025. During his arrival in Germany, crowds of Syrians greeted him with chants of “Allahu Akbar.” Extremism expert Ahmad Mansour told the German tabloid Bild the scenes were “problematic,” warning that radical Islamist forces remain active in Syria, some more extreme than al-Sharaa himself.

Despite the cost to German taxpayers and the threat of terrorism, Germany’s hands are somewhat tied by EU and UN regulations. UNHCR called on states not to forcibly return anyone to Syria and to guarantee civilians’ right to access asylum. While acknowledging that the risk of persecution by the Assad government has ceased, UNHCR stated that other risks persist or have become more pronounced for certain individuals. Consequently, it maintained its moratorium on forced returns pending updated guidance planned for 2026.

The moratorium applies specifically to forced returns. Voluntary returns from neighboring countries have been substantial, between December 8, 2024, and late February 2025, approximately 297,000 Syrians returned from abroad, coming primarily from Lebanon, Turkey, and Jordan.

Syrians in those countries never integrated, never received welfare, and hold no legal status in their host countries. Syrians in Germany have legal status, welfare support, children in schools, and, in many cases, citizenship, and they are not returning.

Germany is bound on multiple levels. Its Basic Law guarantees people facing political persecution a fundamental right to asylum, and EU obligations to protect people in need are anchored in the Charter of Fundamental Rights and the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.

The EU Charter, Article 19, prohibits collective expulsions and bars removal to any state where there is a serious risk of torture or inhuman treatment. Germany is also bound by the 1951 Refugee Convention and the EU Qualification Directive, which governs when a protection status can be revoked.

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