Germany's family reunification controversy

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Europe

Germany’s Social Democrats (SPD) have agreed to sit down with Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its Bavarian sister party the Christian Social Union (CSU) to discuss forming another coalition government.

This follows the failure of negotiations with the pro-business Free Democratic Party (FDP) and the Green party three weeks ago.

One of the most contentious political issues is migration: How many refugees should be allowed into Germany annually and how many already here should be allowed to reunite with their families?

This affects 30-year-old Sakur Alhoria (not his real name) directly.

He and his six-year-old daughter Mahsal arrived in Germany two and a half years ago after a perilous two-month journey from Syria.

After being arrested and extensively tortured, his family fled to Jordan, but they did not have enough money for them all to continue to Europe.

So Sakur left his wife, two other young children and extended family, paid smugglers 4,000 US dollars and braved the journey with his eldest daughter, thinking this would make the reunification process easier once they reached a "safe country," but that has not been the case.

Sakur looks at photos of his family whom he has not seen in nearly three years since arriving in Germany. The country’s family reunification policies will not allow them to join him. /CGTN Photo

They have not seen their family since. All attempts for a Jordanian visa have been rejected and Germany is not allowing Sakur's family to come to him.

He applied for asylum shortly after they arrived, but so had hundreds of thousands of others fleeing war, persecution and poverty in their home countries.

More than 1.2 million refugees are said to have entered Germany during the height of the refugee crisis in 2015-16.

Sakur says there were supposed to get three-year refugee status in 2015, "But German officials lost my papers so I had to get new papers for me and my daughter and go through the procedure from the beginning. I went through the whole thing all over again as if I had just applied for asylum. I missed two years of my life just sitting, waiting."

A few of the minimal items Sakur and his six-year-old daughter were able to bring with them from Syria on their two-month journey from Jordan, through Turkey and to Germany. /CGTN Photo

Eight months ago, they were finally granted "subsidiary protection," which legally allows them to stay in the country for one year. Then the conditions back in their home countries will be reassessed.

The problem is, only those with full-fledged refugee and asylum status are granted family reunification rights.

While Sakur’s new papers were being processed, Chancellor Angela Merkel's coalition government passed a law banning people with subsidiary protection from applying to bring their families over until March 2018.

He questions what their situation would be now had his original documents not been lost.

Social worker Elisabeth Ramzew has worked closely with the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees throughout her two-decade career and says policies have completely changed. /CGTN Photo

Social worker Elisabeth Ramzew has worked closely with the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees throughout her two-decade career and says policies have completely changed.

"When they explored that there were so many people getting residencies, then they said that’s too much so we only grant Syrians now 'subsidiary protection.' It's an instrument for having more people with less rights."

Politically, Merkel has faced significant backlash for her "open door" refugee policies three years ago, so much so that many see it as the reason why her Christian Democratic Union Party received their worst results in September’s election.

At the same time, a far right populist party, the Alternative for Deutschland, campaigned on a platform of anti-immigration, entered parliament for the first time since World War II.

Refugees arrive at Munich Germany’s main train station. More than 1.2 million refugees are said to have entered Germany during the height of the refugee crisis in 2015-16. /Reuters Photo

Merkel has since agreed to more conservative measures in an effort to form a coalition government, such as an annual cap on refugees and is considering extending this ban on family reunification rights.

Mrs. Ramzew says the chancellor read the German people wrong.

"The whole situation showed we are not as far as the chancellor thought I think. We as the people, we as a nation who are also electing, are not as far as we thought."

This is all deeply disturbing for Sakur, who says it’s ripping his family apart.

"There is tension between us, even with my wife. Sometimes we’re good and sometimes we have problems. Every time I tell them that they'll be here soon, they think I’m lying to them, I’m a liar."

Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union Party received their worst results in September’s election, while the Alternative for Deutschland, a far right, populist party campaigning on a platform of anti immigration, entered parliament for the first time since World War II. /CGTN Photo

He has now been supplied a lawyer by an international NGO to help him with his next asylum application in four months.

"If the lawyer can’t get me the three-year refugee permit, there’s no hope."

The left of center SPD support the reunification program, but it will be a challenge for Angela Merkel to keep her dwindling electorate happy if she does not maintain a conservative approach towards the country’s migration policies.

Thankfully for her, the German interior ministry says the number of new arrivals has fallen considerably, from close to 900,000 in 2015 to just over 90,000 in the first half of 2017.

But for many already here, the road ahead is still very long.