By Nkiruka Nnorom
Germany has cemented its position as the leading deportation hub for Nigerian migrants in Europe, with no fewer than 457 Nigerians forcibly returned to Nigeria in the last 18 months through 14 chartered deportation flights hosted from German cities.
Data compiled by the Deportees Emergency Reception and Support team, DERS, and obtained by Vanguard shows that between January 2025 and May 2026, German authorities coordinated or participated in every major monthly removal operation from Europe to Nigeria, with Lagos receiving over 80 percent of the returnees.
According to DERS records, also shared by Refugees4Refugess.org, 171 persons — 143 of them directly from Germany — were deported onboard four charter flights in the first half of 2025.
In the second half of the year, another 135 persons arrived in six separate interventions, except for the August flight, which DERS said was missed due to heavy rainfall.
DERS noted that while at least two of these deportation operations were solely enforced by Germany with coordination by the state of Bavaria, the rest were carried out as a joint EU deportation operation with Vienna, Luxembourg, Italy, Cyprus, and Poland among others.
Between January and May 2026, the pace did not slow down. DERS documented the deportation of 147 Nigerians in German-hosted joint EU charter operations, including a batch of 23 persons in May alone.
A breakdown of the 2026 deportation figure shows that 27 persons were deported from Stuttgart in February. The operation, largely enforced by Baden-Württemberg, also included one severely ill person flown in from Slovakia.
On March 10, 2026, 50 returnees landed in Lagos, including three women and six children in a joint EU operation hosted by Germany with Spain, Austria and Belgium. Germany accounted for 37 of those deported, a figure DERS described as the highest single enforcement in three years.
Further breakdown shows that 24 persons, including two mothers and a 10-year-old minor with asthma, were flown in from Frankfurt on April 8, 2026, while another 23 were removed in May.
DERS blamed the removals on mass denial of residence extensions by Berlin under Paragraph 104c. According to DERS, what has become very obvious is the ongoing deportation of many who, after the first 18 months, are denied extension of Paragraph 104c. “These strategic denials are usually attributed to claims that applicants did not meet required German integration benchmarks such as certified language courses, gainful employment and national identity documents,” the group said.
DERS further alleged that the Paragraph 104c regularization scheme was “from the onset another reproduced deception to engage so-called Tolerated “Duldung” holders to actively cooperate in obtaining national identity documents as a criterion for extension.” The group said those passport documents were needed to facilitate Berlin’s massive deportation agenda.
Human stories behind the statistics
Beyond the numbers, DERS said the operations were leaving behind deep humanitarian scars.
On March 10, a mother traveling with two children — one autistic and hyperactive — arrived in Lagos without preparation or resources. “Autism requires specialized support, patience, and routines, things that are difficult to maintain during forced travel,” DERS reported. Fellow returnees described the situation as “heartbreaking.”
In February, a single mother with a valid residence permit and her three German-born children were deported from Sindelfingen, Stuttgart, after police allegedly ignored proof that they were due to collect residence cards. The family, who had lived in Germany for nine years, only returned to Germany after intervention by volunteers.
Another mother deported in April lamented separation from her three children now in the care of the child welfare department in Paderborn, while the second mother who was deported from the Tuttlingen region was trapped in deportation despair with herself and her 10 years old daughter with an asthmatic condition.
Moreso, one of the deported persons, according to DERS, reported he was residing in Spain but was arrested during his visit to Germany on March 15 in Kehl. He was detained for about three weeks and speedily processed for this deportation to Nigeria.
The April German-wide\Frontex deportation operation was enforced onboard a World2Fly charter aircraft that departed Frankfurt in the early hours and arrived shortly before 1PM at the cargo airport in Lagos.
Stuttgart as new hub
DERS warned that Stuttgart and Baden-Württemberg are fast becoming the center of Germany’s deportation machinery. With the December 2025 and February 2026 operations both departing from Stuttgart, and with AFRICOM also located in the state, the group accused Germany of “positioning itself as the centre for colonial continuity in the so-called global south.”
“The deliberate and repeated act of state violation of international legal provisions as well as Germany’s own domestic laws to enforce deportation is a cause for concern that we must continue to denounce,” DERS stated.
DERS faults government’s silence
The group also faulted the Nigerian government for what it described as a lack of reaction to years of reports of violence and rights abuses linked to the removals.
“For the past two decades, Nigeria has always taken the top lead as the major deportation destination country for Germany,” DERS said, calling on the diaspora community to raise its voice against increasingly restrictive and inhuman migration policies.
With monthly deportation routines still ongoing and more mobile identification hearings scheduled in Karlsruhe, DERS advised Nigerians with ‘Duldung’ tolerated status in Germany to take precautions.
The removals have come at a huge cost to German taxpayers. DERS noted that the first half of 2025 operations alone were accompanied by 351 security personnel and gulped about €1.5 million. The figure, DERS said, does not cover costs for random police arrests, court conveyance, or deportation custody.
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