Merkel gets tough on migrants: Chancellor deports RECORD 80,000 asylum seekers in ONE YEAR
ANGELA Merkel is getting tough on immigration after deporting a record 80,000 failed asylum seekers last year, new figures show.
Angela Merkel's Germany deported 80,000 failed asylum seekers in 2016
Germany has taken in more than a million migrants in the past 18 months – with many from warn-torn Syria and Iraq.
But the open-door policy has come under intense criticism following a string of horrific ISIS attacks in the country.
Now her chief of staff, Peter Altmaier, has stressed Merkel is adopting a more hand-line stance on failed asylum seekers.
That's a record – and the number will rise again further
He said: "We sent home 80,000 last year whose asylum applications were rejected. That's a record – and the number will rise again further.
"There were some 700,000 asylum applications in 2016 and nearly 300,000 were rejected.
"We'll be sending these people home quickly because if we don't it'll damage our credibility as a state based on the rule of law."
The Chancellor is fighting to win a record fourth term in power
The move comes as Angela Merkel, of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), fights to win a fourth term as Chancellor.
But her stance on migration means she has lost vast swathes of support.
The anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) party beat the CDU into third place in a state election in September.
She has lost vast swathes of support to anti-immigrant party AfD
Merkel: Europe has an OBLIGATION to accept refugees
In a desperate bid to win back AfD voters, she called for a ban on the burka at the CDU conference in December.
The embattled Chancellor said: "The full veil must be banned, wherever legally possible. Showing your face is part of our way of life.
"Our laws take precedence over honour codes, tribal customs and sharia."