GETTY A secret report says tens of thousands of migrants scheduled for deportation are still in Germany

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A secret report by interior ministers of all of Germany's 16 states says tens of thousands of migrants scheduled to be flown to their homelands in the past few months are still in the country being cared for by taxpayers. The problem centres on incomplete paperwork, migrants lying about where they come from and the country's own medical profession. It is reported that hundreds of doctors are refusing to sign certificates stating that those intended for expulsion are fit to fly.

Germany's Spiegel magazine highlighted the problem this week as the overburdened local authorities call on Berlin to bring in tougher laws to reinforce Angela Merkel's pledge that illegal asylum seekers would be sent home. In one recent incident the state of Saxony chartered an aircraft to fly 49 Tunisians back home. But it took off with only 13 onboard: the identity of the others could either not be proved or else they had gone into hiding among the migrant community.

GETTY The problem centres on incomplete paperwork and migrants lying about where they come from

Nearly 21,000 people were deported from Germany last year

A police officer recently wrote an anonymous letter to a newspaper claiming "way over" HALF of all planned deportations were failing. Other tricks include deportees hiding their children with friends or relatives knowing officials will not send them home without them. The costs are often staggering when all criteria are met to send illegals home. In one recent case it cost 100,000 pounds to fly THREE natives of Guinea home on a jet with a crew of 14, 13 accompanying police officers and a traveling doctor. The medical scams to avoid being flown home in particular have enraged interior minister Thomas de Maziere who says: It simply cannot be the case that 70 percent of men under 40 are suddenly pronounced sick and unable to fly."

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GETTY The costs are often staggering when all criteria are met to send illegals home