German Lawmakers Slam Plan to Restrict Refugee Family Reunification
Critics argue the proposal threatens family unity and violates humanitarian obligations
German lawmakers have criticized the government’s plans to suspend family reunification for some groups of refugees.
The German lower house of parliament held its first consultation on a draft bill on the suspension on Friday, at which Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt reiterated his desire to limit irregular migration.
There is “no single switch that can be flipped to solve the problem of illegal migration,” Dobrindt said. Instead, he said, a variety of measures at the national and European level were necessary.
His comments sparked outrage from lawmakers from the Greens and The Left party, who argued that family reunification was not irregular migration, but an orderly procedure in which it was clear who was entering the country.
Green Party lawmaker Schahina Gambir criticized the planned reform as inhumane, saying that “families belong together” and charging that anyone who blocks legal routes is promoting human trafficking.
Clara Bünger, of The Left party, described the draft bill as “anti-Christian” and “anti-family.”
The proposed bill aims to suspend family reunification for two years for people holding so-called “subsidiary protection status,” who are allowed to remain in Germany due to the threat of political persecution in their homelands, despite lacking formal refugee status.
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The bill says that almost 400,000 residents have subsidiary protection. Around three-quarters are reportedly Syrian nationals.
The bill foresees that these people will only be able to bring close family members – spouses, children and, in the case of unaccompanied minors, parents – to Germany in exceptional cases.
Family reunification for people with subsidiary protection is already restricted to 1,000 relatives in total per month, unlike for those with refugee status.