The German government has agreed on a set of rules aimed at making it harder for failed asylum seekers to avoid deportation.
The country’s top security official, Horst Seehofer, said Wednesday that the package agreed by the Cabinet focuses on people who have exhausted all legal avenues to obtain asylum.
Seehofer told reporters in Berlin that people who try to hide their true identity can be jailed and those who fail to replace lost travel documents may face fines.
Authorities will double to about 1,000 the number of prison places designated for deportees.
Last year, Germany deported some 25,000 people — little more than a tenth the total number ordered to leave the country.
People who have received asylum or a similar status in another EU country — but try settling in Germany — will be denied benefits.