VIENNA, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- Austria deported 10,677 migrants whose asylum applications were denied in 2016 in line with the interior ministry's plans to enforce the process more strictly, local newspaper the Krone reported on Tuesday.
The number is a significant increase over the 8,355 deportations the year before.
"Those who do not receive asylum in Austria will have to make the trip back home," Minister of the Interior Wolfgang Sobotka was quoted as having stated.
The report says 5,797 of the denied applicants made the trip home voluntarily, while the remaining 4,880 deportations were carried out forcibly, often via charter flights.
Increases in deportations were particularly evident for asylum seekers from countries and regions such as Algeria, Afghanistan, Nigeria, and Russia' Chechnya.
The costs for the forcibly-imposed deportations have also increased significantly, it was noted, up from 1.4 million euros (1.48 million U.S. dollars) in 2015, to 3.8 million euros (4 million dollars).
