Overview
- The Zentrale Ausländerbehörde in Coesfeld sent Cologne an Excel list of 471 out-of-country-obligated migrants in November 2024 that included an offer to secure pass-substitute documents for returns.
- Local reporting published on August 25, 2026 says 152 people from that list have been linked to 568 alleged crimes committed since autumn 2024, a figure now driving political pressure and public concern.
- Cologne placed 218 of the listed people into its municipal Bleiberechtsprogramm, and city officials say the contested November reply applied only to those 218 cases rather than to the full list.
- Operational barriers to removals have been sizable: only five people from the Coesfeld list are reported to have left Germany so far, with authorities citing passport hurdles and legal obstacles.
- Stadtdirektorin Dörte Diemert is leading an internal probe while opposition CDU and FDP politicians demand state-level reviews and possible parliamentary inquiries that could lead to personnel or structural consequences.