Anti-Refugee Violence Spikes in Germany
Plus, a Saudi dissident in Bulgarian detention, US deportations of children, and Israel's attacks on refugee camps.
The far right is setting its sights on refugees, migrants, and other displaced people around Europe, as several European Union member states introduce harsher measures against migration. Meanwhile, United States President Donald Trump has doubled down as pushback against his deportation policies gains steam.
In Tunisia, authorities recently dismantled a camp for refugees and migrants, sharpening fears of deportations, and in Europe, the far right has rallied in several countries against migration.
The Dotted Line breaks down some of the most important and overlooked news of recent weeks.
Attacks on Refugees Soar in Berlin
In Berlin, Germany, local authorities say 2024 saw a “marked increase” in far-right attacks on refugee accommodation facilities and refugees and migrants themselves. Last year, there were at least eight attacks targeting facilities or homes that provide residence to refugees, while there were at least 77 incidents that directly targeted refugees and asylum seekers. By comparison, 2023 saw no attacks on refugee accommodation and 32 attacks on refugees, asylum seekers, and migrants.
According to InfoMigrants, there were at least 218 “politically motivated” incidents targeting refugees, migrants, and the facilities that house them across the country. That total marks 30% nationwide spike compared with the previous year.
In early April, Germany’s far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party — the country’s most prominent anti-migrant party — recently reached a record 24% in public opinion polls, Deutsche Welle reported at the time.
When it comes to the EU, violence against refugees and migrants isn’t unique to Germany. Take, for instance, this Inkstick piece from late last year about far-right violence against migrants in Greece.
Trump Administration Expels a Two-Year-Old Citizen
In the United States, the Trump administration reportedly “deported” a two-year-old US citizen, along with her mother, to Honduras. Although Trump officials claim the mother wanted to take the child with her, US District Judge Terry Doughty has said that the expulsion was carried out “with no meaningful process,” Politico reports.
According to a birth certificate filed in court, the child was born in New Orleans in 2023, and lawyers have insisted that the child’s father had tried to keep his daughter in the US.
Judge Doughty, whom Trump appointed, scheduled a hearing for May 16, noting that the court had a “strong suspicion that the Government just deported a US citizen with no meaningful process.”
The Trump administration has already begun deporting people to a notorious prison in El Salvador, where there are widespread reports of torture and abuse. Meeting with Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele in mid-April, Trump said that “the homegrowns are next,” ostensibly meaning he hopes to send US citizens to be imprisoned in El Salvador, as well.
To learn more about some of the more disturbing aspects of the Trump immigration program, read Tyler Hicks’s recent Inkstick piece about the way that Texas’s Operation Lone Star crackdown is providing a blueprint for an even crueler future of border enforcement.
Israeli Offensive on Palestinian Refugee Camps
In the occupied West Bank, Israeli forces have in recent months displaced tens of thousands of Palestinians in the areas of Tulkarm and Jenin, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). Israel’s ongoing offensive on the West Bank has lasted more than 100 days.
Back in February, Israeli forces expelled residents of three Palestinian refugee camps in the West Bank: Nur Shams, Jenin, and Tulkarm. At the time, Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a statement that he had ordered troops to “prepare for a prolonged presence in the cleared camps for the coming year and to prevent the return of residents and the resurgence of terrorism.”
As the Israeli offensive in the West Bank continues to wreak havoc, far-right settlers have ramped up assaults on Palestinians across the territory. Between April 15 and April 26, according to OCHA, settlers carried out 23 attacks or acts of vandalism targeting Palestinian communities around the West Bank. In Masafer Yatta, one of those attacks injured a Palestinian boy and his elderly father.
Last fall, I wrote a piece at Inkstick about Israel’s long history of attacking Palestinian refugee camps, especially in the Gaza Strip.
Bulgaria Detaining Saudi Dissident
Meanwhile in Bulgaria, a Saudi dissident named Abdulrahman al-Khalidi remains in detention even after a court ordered his release, Balkan Insight reported in early April. In late March, a court said authorities should release al-Khalidi from the Busmantsi Detention Center where he’s locked up.
“This pattern of contempt for the judiciary and abuse of power against me poses a grave threat not only to my life but also to civil liberties, favoring coercive administrative measures whose mechanisms of impunity are shaped without the need to rely on evidence or facts,” al-Khalidi wrote in a statement.
Al-Khalidi has lived in exile since 2013, according to Balkan Insight, after joining a democratic reform movement in Saudi Arabia that called for the replacement of the country’s monarchy with a constitutional system.
Migrant detention has become routine in many countries around Europe. Last year, Katy Fallon reported an important and enduring piece on Greece’s detention of Homayoun Sabetera, an Iranian asylum seeker who was sentenced to 18 years in prison during a trial rights groups said was unfair.
Dotted Line is written by Inkstick Media managing editor Patrick Strickland. If you have tips, email Patrick at pstrickland (at) inkstickmedia (dot) com.