Man. It really sucks when a plan doesn't begin to come together, and skeletal German Chancellor Friedrich Merz thought he had himself a good one.
The man is plagued with immigrants, migrants, asylum seekers, illegals - whatever the label, they're just a buttload of foreign invaders, invited and otherwise, who are making life in Germany hell right now, and giving him and his party political fits.
For one thing, they've gone from an economic burden to a drag to now a calamity, with immigrant upkeep swallowing nearly one out of every two German household benefit dollars.
Die Bürgergeld-Zahlen für 2025 sind da…
— Björn Harms (@Spreeathen1) April 8, 2026
• Erneut wurden fast 47 Milliarden Euro an Bürgergeld ausgezahlt (für Regelbedarf, Miete und Heizung).
• Mit 46,6 Milliarden Euro wurde der Rekord aus 2024 mit 46,9 Milliarden Euro nur knapp verpasst.
• Weiterhin fließt fast jeder… pic.twitter.com/uth7t9FxbB
• Once again, nearly 47 billion euros were paid out in citizen's income (for standard allowances, rent, and heating).
• At 46.6 billion euros, the record from 2024 at 46.9 billion euros was just barely missed.
• Nearly every second euro in citizen's income continues to flow to foreigners (46.6 percent).
• Compared to 2024, payments in 2025 for transfer benefit recipients with German passports have slightly increased—from 24.7 billion euros to 24.9 billion euros.
• 3.9 billion euros were transferred by job centers to Syrians, of whom nearly half are still living on citizen's income.
• 6 billion euros went to Ukrainians, bringing the total citizen's income paid to Ukrainian nationals since 2022 to 20.9 billion euros.
The beloved German welfare system is on its knees.
Friedrich Merz’s desperate attempt to appear tough on migration took another blow this week, after it was revealed that close to half the taxpayer cash spent on the Bürgergeld (citizens’ allowance) continues to go to individuals without German citizenship.
Figures show that the Federal Employment Agency handed out almost €47 billion in benefits in 2025, and that 46.6% of this went to foreigners.
Right-wing news site NIUS on Wednesday reported that “the massive influx [of migrants] from non-European countries”—especially since 2015—“is increasingly pushing Germany’s social welfare system to its limits.”
That is despite German Vice-Chancellor Lars Klingbeil (SPD) insisting last month that “the migration of recent years has significantly stabilised the German social security system—even if some give the impression that the opposite is true.”
Payments cover basic income support, as well as housing and heating costs.
There's also been skyrocketing insurance costs for asylum seekers, which would look even worse save for some fast-paced naturalizations masking the true numbers.
...Espendiller’s parliamentary colleague, Nicole Hess, also complained on Wednesday that health insurance expenditures under the Asylum Seekers’ Benefit Act have “tripled” since 2015, noting in particular that “without [the establishment’s] lightning-fast naturalisations, the figures would look even more dramatic.”
Somehow, somewhere, Merz needed to offload some of these happy international freeloaders, and he thought he'd settled on the perfect place - Syria.
Now, there are about 975,000 Syrian nationals in Germany right now, and if you add in those who naturalized or have Syrian parents, it tops 1.2M. The Syrian diaspora in Germany is impressive to say the least, but it's also very troublesome, as they tend to be stabby types.
...German government data shows 135,000 crimes by Syrian suspects since 2015 — one every 39 minutes
The German government has disclosed that a total of 135,668 crimes have been committed by Syrian suspects between 2015 and 2024, amounting to one every 39 minutes over the past 10 years.
Assimilation issues, you see.
Back last November, Merz sent his Foreign Minister, Johann Wadephul, to a newly stabilized, al-Assad-dictatorship-free Syria to check out how the new fellows were doing running it, and how soon they'd be ready to receive their homies back.
This backfired when the minister came home and pronounced that it was patently unsafe to return anyone to their Syrian homeland. Merz blew a gasket and declared that Syrians needed to return, and he would be expediting their departures to their newly liberated country.
Late last month, the Chancellor thought he had taken another step closer to removing his problem children when he hosted the former Al-Qaeda terrorist who is now the Western suit-wearing president of Syria, Ahmed al-Sharaa.
Merz had the checkbook out to help grease the skids.
At a moment of acute regional sensitivity, where geopolitical realignments are colliding with a global reshaping of energy routes and supply chains, Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa’s visit to Germany on March 29, 2026, has opened the door to far-reaching questions about Berlin’s future role in Syria’s reconstruction.
Far from a routine diplomatic stop, the trip pointed to a gradual shift in relations between Damascus and Berlin, moving from political caution toward an early-stage test of economic partnership. Both sides appear increasingly aware of Syria’s potential as a future geoeconomic hub at a critical crossroads.
...On energy, al-Sharaa announced that Syria is working to rehabilitate its infrastructure, noting that Siemens would be allocated 2,000 megawatts out of a total 5,000 megawatts being invested in the power sector.
He added that Syria offers broad opportunities in infrastructure, including tourism, oil resources the government has regained control over, as well as transport and railways.
He also stressed that Syria’s geographic position and its Mediterranean coastline give it a strategic advantage as a potential hub for global supply chains, particularly amid tensions in the Red Sea and the Strait of Hormuz.
...According to Merz, Germany will provide around 200 million euros in 2026 to support critical projects, including water networks and hospitals.
All this, in addition to the corollary benefits for struggling German industries, was predicated on one point - that al-Sharaa accept a plan for the return of up to 80% of his fellow Syrians from their temporary German lodgings. In numbers, that meant some 700-800,000 Syrians would be returning to the country over the course of the next three years.
...German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on March 30, 2026, that he and the Syrian president were aiming for up to 80% of Syrians living in Germany to return to Syria over the next three years.
Merz, who has made tougher migration policy a priority since taking office in 2025, said between 700,000 and 800,000 Syrians are seeking asylum in Germany, and he expects most to eventually return.
He added that priority would go to those without legal residency status, particularly individuals who have committed crimes.
The problem with Merz's plan seems to have been that he spoke as if al-Sharaa had bought into it. I'm not sure if perhaps it was a language issue or if al-Sharaa was suffering from the affliction many find themselves bothered by when Merz opens his mouth.
🚨 OMG...the Prime Minister of Italy Giorgia Meloni's reaction is *PRICELESS* as Germany Chancellor Merz is lecturing Trump that he needs to go to a ceasefire with Putin instead of a full peace deal.
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) August 18, 2025
She just keeps rolling her eyes 🤣😭 the plan was NOT to do a ceasefire. Trump… pic.twitter.com/9fF72oB0U4
Whatever the cause of the disconnect, al-Sharaa dropped an embarrassing bomb on the Chancellor's Syrian deportation parade.
I NEVER SAID THAT DUDE - YOU SAID THAT
Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa has attributed a controversial statement that 80% of the more than 900,000 Syrians in Germany should go back home within three years to German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.
Merz made the announcement during al-Sharaa's visit to Germany on Monday, and clarified a day later that "the figure of 80% returnees within three years was cited by the Syrian president."
The comment has produced hefty criticism of Merz from across the political spectrum.
As a matter of fact, the Syrian president kind of likes the idea of having nearly a million of his homies clumped as a national diaspora in a single European country, so he told Merz nobody would be allowed to return, sorry, not sorry.
CRAZY: 🇸🇾🇩🇪 Syria has rejected Germany’s plan to send over 700,000 refugees home. pic.twitter.com/tBGqwg405a
— Coinvo (@Coinvo) April 8, 2026
Germany gets to keep every last one of them, you're welcome.
...In a statement issued on Tuesday, the chancellor said Syrian interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa had mentioned the figure—which would amount to hundreds of thousands of migrants—during their conversation. Sharaa later denied this during an event in London. By Wednesday, Merz’s team was trying to downplay the ‘commitment’ altogether, refusing to “get into textual exegesis about which words were said by the chancellor and which were said by the president.”
And on Wednesday evening, Syria was much clearer that returns at this scale will not take place.
Syrian foreign minister Asaad Hassan al-Shaibani “reaffirmed once again” in a post on X:
Syrians in exile are strategic national assets, not burdens.
Al-Shaibani added that while work was being done “to prepare the infrastructure” for some Syrians to return home, “we categorically reject any attempts at forced deportation.”
NOPE NOPE NOPE
Syrian Foreign Minister, and founding member of the Syrian al-Qaeda franchise Nusra Front, Asaad al-Shaibani, announced that Syria is REJECTING plans by the German Chancellor to send Syrian illegal aliens home.
— National Conservative (@NatCon2022) April 8, 2026
The EU has pledged over €3 billion to the new Syrian government. pic.twitter.com/US0x37NCwl
Being the Arab trader that he is, though, the former al-Jolani of al-Qaeda did say he could see his way to being reasonable about the excess of his countrymen in countries not their own.
It's all a matter of one hand washing the other with the money.
Syria’s president said he did not mean that 80% of Syrians living in Germany would return within three years, explaining that many have built “new lives” abroad and would find it difficult “to start their life from zero.”
— AF Post (@AFpost) April 1, 2026
He added, however, that if Western countries invest in… pic.twitter.com/jt0qkip8Nf
...He added, however, that if Western countries invest in Syria and help launch businesses there, he could “guarantee” that 80% would return.
Isn't it always?
Merz is back to square one with no plan to remove hundreds of thousands of unassimilated, knife-crime-inclined Syrians, the populist Alternativ for Germany party and it's supporters are ripping him up royally again for an immigration blunder as he 'allowed Syria to dictate return policy of their own citizens,' and the German Left is going berserk over the cruelty of even suggesting that Syrians should decamp for their homeland instead of sponging off the German state and taxpayers.
Germany wants 80% of the Syrians in the country to return to Syria within the next three years, but Syrians say they won’t leave and that no one can force them. This will not end well. pic.twitter.com/qYBBD5U73q
— Dr. Maalouf (@realMaalouf) March 30, 2026
Heh.
It's going to be a miserable summer.
