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Austria plans more deportations to Syria and Afghanistan
2026-01-23 21:20:56 / BOTA
Austria plans to increase deportations to Syria and Afghanistan, Interior Minister Gerhard Karner said today.
In 2025, the Alpine country was one of the first in the EU to start sending back asylum seekers from both countries, in the case of Syria since the fall of the al-Assad regime at the end of 2024.
"Such deportations should be the norm," said Karner, who belongs to the conservative Austrian People's Party (ÖVP), noting that the United Nations had identified safe regions in Syria.
"Overall, 40 people a day across all categories were deported last year," Karner said, pledging "zero tolerance" for refugees who abused the country's immigration laws.
"Around 6,850 people had made initial asylum applications in Austria, a big drop from last year. Around 4,000 asylum seekers were deported in total, leaving fewer than 3,000 asylum seekers in the country in total during the year," the minister said.
"An indicator of success in the fight against illegal migration is the significant decrease in the number of smugglers arrested," the minister said.
In 2022 and 2023, the number was around 800 in Austria, while last year it was reported that 115 smugglers were arrested.
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