Germany’s government has agreed on a draft law making it easier to deport people who promote “terrorist crimes.” The legislation lowers the bar at which foreigners can be returned to their country of origin.
German government ministers on Wednesday agreed on draft legislation to simplify the deportation process for individuals who express support for terrorism, Germany’s Interior Ministry said.
The move comes in reaction to online hate posts that celebrated the Hamas attack on Israel and other terrorist incidents.
The draft law would allow deportation if someone is considered to have approved of a single terrorist offense. No criminal conviction would be necessary for an individual to be deported.
Expressions of approval could include not only posting of hateful content on social media but also marking a hate post with a “like” or other positive reaction on platforms such as YouTube, Instagram, or TikTok.
Just because something is legally defined, doesn’t mean the law will be equally applied and it’s not a conspiracy theory to point out the German government’s long history of unequal application of draconian laws that are used to target specific demographic groups.
The groups they choose to target may change as time moves on, but the tactic remains.