Berlin, Aug 26 (IANS): German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Monday vowed to curb irregular migration in the wake of a Syrian asylum seeker being charged with killing three people in a stabbing attack in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia last week and deport those found ineligible or found involved in crime.
"This was terrorism, terrorism against us all," he said during a visit to Solingen town where the incident took place on Friday, the BBC reported.
The Chancellor said that illegal immigration "must go down" and that his government would do "everything we can to ensure that those who cannot and should not stay here in Germany are repatriated and deported" and deportations would be sped up, if needed.
Friday's deadly attack gained a political dimension as soon as officials revealed the suspect was Syrian refugee Issa Al H., 26, suspected of links to the terror organisation Islamic State and stirred up the tense debate about migration.
Following the attack, conservative opposition leader Friedrich Merz sought the country stop accepting refugees from Syria and Afghanistan and stringent controls on all borders while far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) leader Alice Weidel demanded a complete stop to all migration, the BBC said.
Scholz’s governing centre-left SPD says Germany remains committed to its legal and humanitarian commitments to help those fleeing persecution, but has pledged to deport migrants who have committed serious crimes and people whose application for asylum has been rejected.
The Solingen attack suspect came to Germany in 2022 as a refugee, but his asylum application was rejected and he was ordered to be deported to Bulgaria, where he had already registered for asylum. However, officials could not trace him to deport him and this lapse has ignited further controversy.
Migration has long been a controversial issue in Germany, which takes in hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers every year, with both supporters and opponents of the policy.
However, the Solingen incident may also affect the regional elections in the eastern states of Saxony and Thuringia, slated for the coming Sunday, with the AfD, which fancies its chances, already using the attack as part of its campaign.