BERLIN (Reuters) – German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer wants to exclude criminal offenders from Syria from a general stop of deportations that applies to the war torn country, a spokeswoman for the ministry said on Friday.
Seehofer aims to replace the existing rule by individual checks when criminal offenders are concerned, the spokeswoman said.
The minister would present his proposal to his state colleagues at their next meeting, she added.
Germany was rattled by the murder of a tourist in the city of Dresden in October that authorities blame on a Syrian who came to the country as a refugee in 2015.
The suspect was known as a radical Islamist to the police and lost his refugee status because of his criminal record in 2019, but could not be deported due to the civil war in his home country.
(Reporting by Sabine Siebold; Editing by Riham Alkousaa)
