Author
The maximum duration of pre-removal detention (Abschiebungshaft) is 6 months, subject to a possibility of extension to a total of 18 months if the person hinders removal.[1]
The maximum time limit for the duration of the custody pending departure (Ausreisegewahrsam) is 10 days.[2]
In the detention facility of Darmstadt-Eberstadt (Federal State of Hesse/Hessen), 297 persons were detained for an average duration of 24 days between March 2018 and June 2019. The length of detention ranged from 1 to 145 days.[3] More detailed statistics on duration of detention are only available for 2018: Federal States provided the following data for the first half of 2018 in response to a parliamentary request:[4]
|
Average duration of pre-removal detention: 1 January – 30 June 2018 |
|||||||
|
|
Detainees |
< 2 weeks |
2-6 weeks |
6 weeks – 3 months |
3-6 months |
6-12 months |
12-18 months |
|
Bavaria |
688 |
231 |
299 |
135 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
Berlin |
6 |
6 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
Bremen |
25 |
3 |
19 |
3 |
: |
0 |
0 |
|
Hamburg |
123 |
52 |
48 |
23 |
: |
0 |
0 |
|
Lower Saxony |
632 |
388 |
195 |
49 |
: |
0 |
0 |
|
North Rhine-Westphalia |
573 |
91 |
260 |
197 |
: |
25 |
0 |
|
Rhineland-Palatinate |
86 |
70 |
16 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
Saarland |
31 |
12 |
13 |
6 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
Saxony |
11 |
5 |
6 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
Saxony-Anhalt |
36 |
18 |
16 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
|
Thuringia |
6 |
1 |
5 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Source: Federal Government, Response to parliamentary question by The Left, 19/5817, 16 November 2018, 14.
It has to be noted that figures were not made available by all Federal States and are not necessarily comprehensive (e.g. some states did not submit any statistics on detention between 3 to 6 months). The figures are further not always in line with available data on the number of detainees reported elsewhere in the same parliamentary response.[5] Nevertheless, they show that detention for a period of less than six weeks seems to be the rule, while cases of detention lasting longer than 6 months seem to be exceptional and were only recorded in the Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia at the time.
[1] Section 62(4) Residence Act.
[2] Section 62b(1) Residence Act, as amended by the Law of 20 July 2017.
[3] Government of the Federal State of Hesse, response to information request by Die Linke, 20/773, 16 September 2019, available at https://bit.ly/2VSjyJJ, 2.
[4]Federal Government, Response to parliamentary question by The Left, 19/5817, 16 November 2018, 52-58.
[5]Information on number of detainees in the first half of 2018 deviates, for example, for the Federal States of Bavaria, Lower Saxony and Rhineland-Palatinate.