From January to September, 17,651 people were deported, compared to 14,706 in the same period last year, an increase of around one fifth.

The figures are included in a federal government’s response to a request from The Left party in the lower house of parliament, the Bundestag.

Most of those affected were deported to Turkey (1,614) and Georgia (1,379). Almost one in five of those deported (3,095) were children or young people.

Clara Bünger, interior policy expert for The Left party, sharply criticized the rise. “When it comes to driving up the number of deportations, the authorities hardly know any taboos anymore,” she told the Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung newspaper.

“Mass deportations to a country like Turkey, which oppresses left-wingers, Kurds and opposition figures? Apparently no problem under the current political circumstances in Germany,” she said.