‘Ask your daughters’: Merz defends his call for large-scale deportations

German chancellor accused of taking a page from extremist parties with ‘dangerous’ rhetoric on immigration

Critics have accused Germany’s chancellor, Friedrich Merz, of adopting “dangerous” rhetoric on immigration, after he championed “very large scale” expulsions of people from cities – and claimed that anyone with daughters would agree with him.

Merz, who took office in May with a pledge to beat back the rise of the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party, chastised a reporter who asked if he wished to revise his hardline remarks on migration from last week in light of widespread criticism, or apologise for them.