North Rhine-Westphalia orders criminal checks on 6,800 deportees

North Rhine-Westphalia's Migration Minister, Verena Schäffer, has ordered the State Criminal Police Office (LKA) to conduct criminal background checks on approximately 6,800 individuals required to leave the country. The initiative aims to identify security risks among those with tolerated status or pending deportation.

The group under review includes 1,573 individuals from West Balkan states listed by the Coesfeld Central Immigration Office and 5,250 individuals from Iraq listed by the Unna office. Schäffer requested administrative assistance from Interior Minister Herbert Reul to facilitate the database cross-referencing.

Preliminary findings from a subset of 471 individuals, known as the 'Cologne list,' have already identified 152 suspects linked to approximately 570 offenses, including serious crimes. The investigation follows criticism regarding communication between immigration authorities and the city of Cologne concerning the procurement of travel documents for deportees.