Asylum-seekers could be deported if they're found to have participated in a string of New Year sexual assaults in Cologne, Germany's justice minister said Thursday.<br />Police say witnesses have described the perpetrators as being of "Arab or North African origin," but there's little solid information so far on who committed the assaults.<br />Officials have cautioned it's important not to cast suspicion on refugees in general.<br />Still, Justice Minister Heiko Maas said in an interview with the Funke newspaper group that "deportations would certainly be conceivable."<br />He said the law allows for people to be deported during asylum proceedings if they're sentenced to a year or more in prison.<br />"The courts will have to decide on the level of sentences, but that penalty is in principle absolutely possible for sexual offenses," he said.
