In a significant policy shift, Austrian authorities deported a convicted Syrian criminal to Damascus, marking the first such EU repatriation since President Bashar al-Assad’s ousting in December last year.
The move signals a hardening European stance on migration that extends beyond Austria’s borders, with Germany simultaneously pursuing direct deportation talks with Afghanistan’s Taliban government.
The 32-year-old man, granted asylum in Austria in 2014, lost his refugee status in 2019 due to criminal convictions. Interior Minister Gerhard Karner confirmed the deportation followed intensive negotiations with Syria’s transitional government.
The deportation carried out today is part of a hard and therefore fair asylum policy. We will continue the path of removing convicted criminals from the country with hard work and determination, also in the case of Syria.
The operation faced delays due to airspace closures during the Iran-Israel conflict. This represents Austria’s first Syrian deportation in approximately 15 years, occurring mere weeks after Karner and then-German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser visited Damascus to negotiate return pathways and deportation protocols with Syrian Interior Minister Enas Hattab.
Austria’s broader policy framework includes suspending all Syrian asylum applications following al-Assad’s fall and initiating procedures to revoke protected status from approximately 2,900 Syrian refugees. Chancellor Christian Stocker’s government further aims to extend halted family reunification policies to all nationalities.
With nearly 100,000 Syrians residing in Austria, these measures reflect a deliberate strategy prioritising deportation of offenders while maintaining protections for well-integrated refugees, a position Faeser explicitly endorsed during the Damascus talks.
Germany’s parallel path
Simultaneously, Germany’s Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt announced plans to negotiate directly with Afghanistan’s Taliban government to facilitate deportations of Afghan criminals.
My idea is that we make agreements directly with Afghanistan to enable repatriations. We still need third parties to conduct talks with Afghanistan. This cannot remain a permanent solution.
This aligns with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s election pledge to deport Afghan and Syrian offenders and halt refugee admission programmes for former local staff of German agencies in Afghanistan.
According to data from the Central Register of Foreign Nationals, as of the end of March 2025, there were 968,899 Syrian citizens living in Germany. Between 2015 and 2023, 163,170 Syrians obtained German citizenship.
Rights organisations warn Austria’s deportation sets a concerning precedent for other EU nations amid rising anti-migrant sentiment. The action exemplifies a broader European pivot towards stricter asylum policies, including Germany’s recent implementation of enhanced border controls and Austria’s systematic rejection of asylum seekers at its borders.
