Brandenburg wants to build yet another deportation centre. Being one of a total of 3 new facilities in the federal state, a deportation camp is supposed to be built on a contaminated island in the Oder river in Küstrin-Kietz in Märkisch-Oderland. This was announced at the integration summit in November 2023, which had the goal of conceiving of a stricter deportation policy.
The first containers are due in 2025. When completed, the new deportation centre will have space for 200-250 refugees. According to the Ministry of the Interior, however, families, women, couples and people in need of care will not be detained there.
The people who are supposed to be deported, lose their work permit and entitlement to unemployment benefits, social welfare and housing benefits. They are also not allowed to leave the deportation centre and are advised to return “voluntarily” to their country of origin. Although the expected duration of detainment is six months, this period can likely be extended indefinitely, meaning that the refugees could effectively be held there for an indefinite amount of time.
10 million euros have been set aside for the project in Brandenburg’s 2025/2026 budget (for the Central Immigration Office).
Where exactly should it be built?
The exact location of the deportation centre is a restricted former military site that has been abandoned since 1991 and is contaminated with asbestos. Local councillor (“Ortsvorsteher”) Wolfgang Henschel is therefore unable to understand the development plans. “Entering this site is life-threatening. It is insane to even consider such a facility,” he says. Other parts of the island are nature reserves, where access is prohibited.
The military site is 500 metres away from Küstrin-Kietz, a village with 850 inhabitants that borders directly on Poland. The military site is located on the Küstrin peninsula and is thus very remote: the nearest shopping centre is 6 kilometres away.
What do politicians say?
While Brandenburg’s Interior Minister Stübgen (CDU) is in favour of “departure centres” and describes them as a “mild means” of urging people to leave the country, other politicians and parties are critical of the construction of the deportation centre. The non-party mayor (Küstrin-Kietz) Wolfgang Henschel, for example, rejects the project on humanitarian grounds.
Petra Burke, parliamentary group leader of the Greens in Brandenburg, also notes that the accommodation of deportees should be handled by the state rather than local authorities. Antje Töpfer, Green State Secretary for Consumer Protection, would not agree to the project in the cabinet. She is also calling for a vote within the state government due to its high costs. Andrea Johlige, a member of parliament for the Left Party, told the Märkische Allgemeine Zeitung that “the island solution is just an attempt to wear down people who cannot be deported in order to persuade them to leave voluntarily.”
For the state integration commissioner (“Integrationsbeauftragte”) Diana Gonzales Olivio, who wants to promote integration rather than deportation, doubts about the legal circumstances remain.
What do residents think?
Residents of Küstrin-Kietz are also against the project, which led to a heated discussion with the municipal council in June. However, the interests of local residents do not lie with the refugees, but elsewhere: the citizens’ initiative “Oderinsel” has launched a petition and a crowdfunding campaign to prevent the project because they fear an increase in crime and a negative impact on tourism, besides having environmental concerns.
The community had actually wanted to use the site for other purposes for a long time, e.g. as an “industrial site or recreational facility”, but no money could be found for these projects.