Germany is not taking the shot seriously

It is a strange reflex of German politics to look across the Atlantic with a mixture of horror and a secret fascination whenever the wrecking ball once again swings through democratic institutions there. Trumpism, polarization, the erosion of the rule of law - all of this we observe with the self-satisfied distance of a country that believes itself immune to the viruses of populism. Yet what is happening in the USA has long since arrived in Germany. We just have not noticed it yet. Or we do not want to notice it. The deportation machinery is running at full speed, and it is running silently. While in the USA every ICE raid becomes a major media event, in Germany a silent exodus is taking place. A Yazidi family that had lived for years in a small town in Brandenburg disappears overnight. Computer scientists and sociologists with training positions are torn from their lives like serious criminals. Seriously ill people are put on planes without medical escort. The stories are numerous, the outrage minimal.

The mechanics of looking away

Ali Al-Qoshachee called them "fantasy papers" - those certificates from the district immigration authority in Bergisch Gladbach that granted him another few weeks in Germany every two or three weeks. "The people in the immigration office have no idea what it means to be welcome in Germany for only a few weeks at a time," said the 31-year-old computer scientist, whose German was almost perfect after three years. Almost every night he dreamed of being taken away. His degree as a computer scientist was not recognized here, his high school diploma was. Edeka wanted to train him as a foreign trade clerk starting August 1. The work permit never came.

On the afternoon of August 7, Al-Qoshachee had an appointment at the registry office, the final signature for his marriage. Seven hours earlier he was arrested during a routine appointment at the social welfare office in Rösrath. The Cologne District Court saw no reason to let him stay. The planned marriage? Initiated after the rejection of the asylum application, so obviously calculated. On August 12, he flew from Düsseldorf to Baghdad.

Janefrancis Kalu, a sociologist, had a training position as a preschool teacher. She too was among those Germany does not need. On the most recent deportation flight to Iraq, there were four women and eight minors. The Yazidi family from Lychen, four underage children, integrated for years, was deported on July 22. The Potsdam Administrative Court overturned the obligation to leave the country later that same day - the plane was already in the air. A judicial shrug followed: the deportation had not been unlawful, the same court later ruled. Ali Al-Qoshachee was luckier than the Yazidi family, one might cynically remark. At least he was properly deported, with judicial blessing.

The nighttime removal of the Georgian family in Brigachtal reads like something out of a Kafka novel set in the Swabian provinces. At three in the morning the police ring the bell, one hour to pack, the 19-year-old son with muscular dystrophy is taken without his electric wheelchair. Three police vehicles for a family whose greatest offense was having lived unobtrusively in Germany for four years. The daughter in training, the younger son in school, the father speaks German, the mother is active in the community. The apartment was sealed within a week. With the most recent deportation flight to Iraq, a total of four women and eight minors have been deported, which in itself is contemptible enough. The situation in Iraq remains highly dangerous. Returnees - especially traumatized - women and children are massively at risk: from violence, landmines, political instability, lack of infrastructure, and societal threats. Perhaps German politicians, or better yet, loudmouths from the AfD should be sent there for a week - learning by bad luck, a guaranteed unique life experience. We currently have over 120 cases on file, and we could only address the issue in passing for time reasons. So what do you think will happen when we fully dive in - I suspect many will have to sit down first when reading, so better sit down before reading.

The failure of the fourth estate

What particularly hurts in Germany is the failure of the media. A submissive obedience to authority runs through large parts of the German press landscape. The FAZ demonstrated to perfection in the case of Frauke Brosius-Gersdorf how media reporting can lose reputation and quality - a liberal judge became a non-person because she held different views on abortion than the new right-wing dominance of opinion allowed. Media like Nius, Welt, Berliner Zeitung, Bild engage - holy smokes - in reporting that borders on bodily harm for their readers. It is telling that in the few international investigative journalism teams that tackle these topics without fear, few German colleagues are to be found. Notable is the investigative team of the Süddeutsche Zeitung for good work. The languages in these teams: English, French, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, African languages, Russian, Ukrainian, Polish. It is the outsiders, the newcomers, the multilingual, who still have the courage to look closely. The German journalists? They mostly remain silent, except for the few regional newspapers, duck away, or worse: they join in because they do not act. How good it is that the great media god invented agency journalism, tasty coffee with little responsibility.

In the USA, deportation policy may be brutal, but it is accompanied by a chorus of investigative journalists who document every raid, trace every fate, and bring every official transgression to light. And - they take it a step further, helping deported people, often with their own resources. Here? The few refugee aid organizations fight a lonely battle, without media support, without broad social backing. The major newsrooms dutifully report on emergency motions and court rulings, but where are the stories? Where are the faces behind the numbers? And - where is the media’s resistance to it?

The perfect deal

Friedrich Merz and his coalition have understood what counts in the new hyperpolarized era: act instead of talk, crack down instead of discuss. The AfD pushes, the CDU delivers. It is a perfect deal for both sides. The far-right party can present itself as the only true voice of the people, while the government demonstrates its ability to act. Fifty percent of the votes are thus covered - the right-leaning CDU/CSU voters and the AfD supporters.

There is nothing to do but deport, and the train runs. The "political center" that Merz likes to talk about has long since shifted to the right. What was unthinkable yesterday is government policy today. What is considered humane today will be ridiculed as naive tomorrow. The firewall to the AfD may still stand formally, but in content it has long since become permeable. Every deportation, every nighttime removal, every denied emergency motion is another stone taken from that wall.

The German variant

It is this silence that makes the German variant so efficient. No spectacular ICE raids, no crying children on camera, no viral arrest videos. Instead: appointments at the social welfare office that turn into arrests. Emails sent only hours before deportation. "Fantasy papers" that keep people in constant fear. Highly qualified individuals who, despite job offers, receive no work permit. The irony is that while Germany rails against Trump’s wall and his deportation rhetoric, it is perfecting a system that in its efficiency and coldness is in no way inferior to the American one. The only difference lies in the presentation. Trump boasts, Germany stays silent. Trump stages, Germany executes. Trump shouts on Truth Social, Germany stamps.

What remains is the realization that Trumpism is not an American invention. It is the logical consequence of a policy that mistakes harshness for the ability to act and sees humanity as weakness. Germany is not taking the shot seriously because it believes the weapon is not aimed at us. In reality, we have long since pulled the trigger ourselves. Again and again. Only quietly, efficiently, German. The real scandal is not only that Germany deports computer scientists and sociologists while the economy cries out for skilled workers. It is not only that we send Yazidi families back to Iraq, who fled precisely the terror that awaits them there. The scandal is that we let it happen silently. That our media fail, our institutions capitulate, our society looks away.

In the end, that may be what distinguishes Germany from America: while there the dismantling of democratic norms takes place with noise and shouting, here it happens in complete silence. No outcry, no resistance, just a collective shrug. The bureaucracy works, the forms are filled out, the notices sent. Business as usual in the Berlin Republic. The trains run on time, including those to Baghdad. And for Ali Al-Qoshachee too, the nightmares have come true - not in a dictatorship, but in Germany in the year 2025.

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