VIENNA – Austria’s deportation figures have stabilized at last year’s levels, Interior Minister Gerhard Karner said Wednesday, with 6,554 people removed from the country in the first half of 2025—about half voluntarily, half by force. “Thirty-five people must leave Austria every day,” Karner told reporters in Vienna, hailing what he called a “very good and proper balance” and underscoring that deportations are the “daily business” of the authorities, even if public debate often fixates on singular, high-profile cases.
Of those leaving so far this year, 3,366—around 51 percent—departed after being formally requested to do so, while 3,188, or 49 percent, were forcibly deported after refusing. Roughly half of all deportees, Karner said, were convicted criminals.
The minister reiterated his intention to pursue deportations to Syria, both voluntary and forced, in cases involving rejected asylum claims. Austria’s return counseling program, he noted, had improved after a slow start, with roughly 500 Syrians accepting the offer to leave, July marking the highest monthly figure. Karner’s stance comes despite a temporary halt issued Tuesday by the European Court of Human Rights, which blocked one such removal pending review.
Gernot Maier, head of the Federal Office for Immigration and Asylum, supported Karner’s approach, describing the court’s injunction as routine. While he acknowledged Syria is not a “safe country of origin,” Maier stressed this does not preclude deportations, provided each case is individually assessed. He said the asylum argument of forced conscription into the Assad regime’s army was no longer valid after the dictator’s overthrow in December, and that there are currently no forced military recruitments, though conditions differ by region.
Karner also touted progress in disrupting human smuggling networks, claiming smugglers now avoid Austrian territory. Authorities apprehended 225 smugglers in 2024, compared to just 44 in the first half of 2025, a change attributed to tighter international coordination. “If we disrupt their business,” Karner said, “we reduce the need for deportations.”
