"There should be no place for illegal migrants in Austria. This requires strict deportations. There is nothing wrong with 're-migration'," the leader of the Austrian Freedom Party (FPO) said.
We need a so-called "Geh-heim" plan,
– reads a message shared by Herbert Kickl on his X platform, as quoted by the international V4NA news agency.
Mr Kickl spoke about "Geh-heim," also known as the "Go Home Plan, at an FPO rally on Wednesday. He said the party supported re-migration, and that it had a plan in mind. He said "re-migration is the trump card", which is exactly what Austria needs.
Austrian Interior Minister Gerhard Karner recently announced that in response to growing migratory pressure, Austria has extended the temporary reintroduction of controls on its border with Czechia until 16 April. "The border controls are just one of a number of measures to combat the cross-border human smuggling mafia. Moreover, given the international security situation, border controls are also necessary to take action against extremists," Karner stressed.
Austria is currently conducting checks on its border with Slovakia, Hungary and Slovenia, while intensive in-depth checks are carried out along the border area that includes other border sections (with Italy, Germany, Switzerland and Liechtenstein).
The FPO, however, criticized the "show-politics" pursued by the interior minister.
"OVP Interior Minister Karner's show politics is increasingly degenerating into a never-ending story, to the chagrin of the Austrians. Only an immediate ban on asylum, a 'Fortress Austria' can bring illegal mass migration to a stop effectively," Hannes Amesbauer, security spokesperson for FPO, emphasized in his statement.
He pointed out that 2023 was the "year with the third highest number of asylum applications since 1958".
Last year saw the arrival of 60 thousand illegal immigrants, which the OVP celebrated as a success. However, it is the citizens who pay the price – with risking their security, billions of taxpayers' money going into the social, education, justice and health sectors, and losing their right to a homeland and identity,
– Mr Amesbauer concluded.
Cover photo: Herbert Kickl, President of the Austrian Freedom Party, and Alice Weidel, Federal Spokesperson of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, during a press conference in Vienna, on September 19, 2023 (Photo: APA-PictureDesk/AFP/Martin Juen)
