Baden-Württemberg plans to spend an additional €3.2 million on its migration policy in 2027. More staff, faster procedures and additional funding for deportations are intended to deliver better results. The decisive question is what of this actually reaches the returns process.

The Green-Black state government in Stuttgart wants to expand its migration administration and, in particular, speed up the deportation of convicted offenders and individuals deemed a security threat who are required to leave the country. The state parliament’s Finance Committee has already approved the additional expenditure for the 2027 budget; the final decision is to be made on December 16, 2026. This emerges from a Report by the German Press Agency dated November 14, 2026 stand out.

CDU parliamentary group leader Tobias Vogt is already speaking of an initiated turnaround in migration policy. That sounds determined, but political consistency is difficult to measure by how many new positions are created or how many millions of euros are made available. What matters is whether, in the end, more people required to leave the country can actually be returned.

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What additional funding for deportations and asylum administration is intended for

According to reports by the German Press Agency published on November 14, the planned additional funding is distributed across three areas.

Around €1.4 million is earmarked for the digitisation of migration administration and the implementation of European asylum rules. Six new positions are to be created for this purpose, while 26 existing positions at the regional councils are also to be extended.

A further €800,000 is earmarked for 15 positions related to the European asylum border procedure in Pforzheim. The aim there is to create the conditions for accelerated procedures, including for asylum seekers from countries with low recognition rates.

The remaining €1 million is to benefit the so-called Special Unit for Dangerous Foreign Nationals. With 20 additional positions, the state primarily aims to speed up identity clarification, the procurement of travel documents and preparations for deportations.

This means that only just under one-third of the additional funds flows directly into expanding the Special Unit’s staffing. The remaining amount finances administrative structures and the implementation of new asylum procedures.

This may be sensible, because missing documents, unclear identities and lengthy administrative procedures do in fact make returns more difficult. More money alone will not eliminate these problems, however. To achieve that, the responsible authorities must also be able to demonstrate that their procedures are becoming faster and more successful.

The deportation figures do not yet match the announced turnaround

The developments so far show why the announced measures should be examined more closely.

According to the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Justice, 2,873 people were deported in 2024. In 2025, the figure rose to 3,397.

For 2026, figures are currently available only through the end of September. During this period, 2,111 people were deported, as Migration State Secretary Siegfried Lorek (CDU) explained at the beginning of November. The figures were published, among other places, in the Staatsanzeiger Baden-Württemberg of November 4, 2026.

A direct comparison between nine months and a full calendar year would be misleading. Lorek himself, however, expects fewer deportations in 2026 than in the previous year, attributing this mainly to the decline in arrivals.

Another development is also important: While more than 30 percent of the people deported in 2025 had been convicted of criminal offenses, according to Lorek, this share is over 40 percent in 2026.

This points to a stronger focus on offenders. Whether the repatriation procedures have become more effective overall cannot be determined from this figure alone.

According to Lorek, approximately 25,000 people currently live in Baden-Württemberg under a temporary suspension of deportation. Deportation is being specifically prepared for around 1,000 people.

A distinction must be made between the obligation to leave the country and the actual feasibility of deportation. Tolerated stay status means that deportation has been temporarily suspended. Missing documents, legal obstacles or other circumstances may be responsible for this.

Nevertheless, these figures show the administrative tasks the state has to manage. Anyone seeking to achieve better results in the long term needs comprehensible information about which obstacles exist and how successfully the authorities are removing them.

The special task force most recently ordered fewer deportations

The development of the Special Task Force for Dangerous Foreign Nationals is particularly interesting; its work is now to be expanded again.

The special task force has existed since 2018 and is intended to coordinate the termination of residence of foreign multiple and repeat offenders, as well as persons relevant to security. In this work, it cooperates with the police, immigration authorities, the judiciary and other federal and state agencies.

According to the official report by the Ministry of Justice from January 2025 the special task force arranged a total of 120 deportations in 2023; in 2024, the figure was only 92.

The ministry attributed the decline at the time primarily to Gambia’s lack of cooperation on landing permits and the procurement of travel documents.

The figures demonstrate a fundamental problem with return policy. Even a well-equipped authority cannot simply carry out a deportation if the country of origin refuses to provide the necessary documents or does not take back its nationals.

That is why the 2025/2026 double budget already created 20 additional positions for the special task force and its cooperation with the police. According to information from the ministry at the time, this was supplemented by around 600,000 euros annually for IT equipment. This is stated in the Ministry of Justice’s budget notification of 18 December 2024 and the subsequent report on the special task force.

Now another 20 positions are to be added for 2027.

The political demand for additional staff is therefore by no means new. What is missing from the information published so far on the current budget decision is a concrete assessment of the success of the staffing measures already approved.

How many of the previous positions were actually filled? To what extent have processing times been reduced? How many additional deportations could be carried out as a result?

Those would be useful figures for justifying the additional million euros.

Even more staff run up against limits without cooperation from countries of origin

The repatriation of persons required to leave the country is not solely the responsibility of the federal states. Baden-Württemberg can prepare procedures, clarify identities and coordinate the responsible authorities, but for numerous measures it depends on the federal government and cooperation with other states.

The previously mentioned report by the special task force shows how difficult this can be in practice.

If countries of origin do not issue replacement documents or refuse to grant the necessary permits, additional caseworkers can help only to a limited extent. The problem must then also be resolved at the diplomatic and federal political levels.

The measures involving Afghanistan show that repatriations are possible even to difficult countries of origin.

On 28 October 2026, the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Justice the deportation of another ten convicted criminals. According to the ministry, this brought the total number of offenders returned from Baden-Württemberg to Afghanistan this year to 34.

Such measures are concrete results. They require preparation, international coordination and an examination of the respective legal requirements.

That is precisely why policymakers should disclose which obstacles can actually be eliminated through additional state funding and where decisions by the federal government or agreements with countries of origin are necessary.

Faster asylum procedures do not automatically lead to more deportations

Another part of the budget planning concerns the implementation of the Common European Asylum System, or CEAS for short.

Since June 12, 2026, new European regulations have been in force that are intended, among other things, to enable faster asylum decisions and border procedures. The German federal government explains the reform as part of a more uniform European migration policy.

The planned 15 places in Pforzheim are part of Baden-Württemberg’s preparations for these changed procedures.

Whether this will actually lead to more returns, however, depends on how it is implemented in practice. A faster-completed asylum procedure helps manage migration, but does not necessarily lead to an immediate deportation. Even then, the legal requirements must be met and the necessary documents must be available.

This is where cooperation between the state, the federal government and European authorities is crucial.

The reform offers opportunities to make procedures more efficient. Whether these opportunities are used can only be assessed on the basis of the results.

The 2027 budget needs verifiable targets for returns

Baden-Württemberg is investing additional money in migration administration, even though additional positions have already been created and technical improvements financed in recent years.

There is initially nothing objectionable about this. If administrative procedures take too long or necessary returns fail because of organisational problems, these problems must be addressed.

The state government should therefore also present concrete and verifiable targets with the 2027 budget. These should include shorter processing times, faster procurement of travel documents and comprehensible figures on returns actually carried out.

Especially in the case of offenders and individuals deemed dangerous who are required to leave the country, the rule of law needs a consistent approach that complies with the law. Anyone who has no right of residence and for whom there are no legal obstacles to deportation must be able to expect that the obligation to leave the country will also be enforced.

This is not an unusually harsh demand, but rather the expectation that applicable laws will work in practice.

The CDU is already describing its policy as a turning point, even though the additional measures announced are not due to take effect until 2027. It is too early to make such an assessment.

Whether the new migration policy is successful will be determined by its implementation. The state government must demonstrate that the additional millions and staff positions are producing measurably better results. A political turning point is not decided in the budget plan; it must take place in practice.