Germany used to be the promised land for migrants. Now, it’s turning back more of them

“The reality of today’s Germany is a different one than the refugee fairytale of last summer”

Afghan asylum seeker Shakira Sarwari, 27, and her two children, Mohammed, 17 months, and Setayesh, 7, are taken off a Munich-bound train in Salzburg, Austria, by German police Anthony Faiola/The Washington Post


SALZBURG, Austria – The 5:08 p.m. to Munich pulled into Salzburg Central Station, and four German police officers boarded the train. This was a migrant sweep, and the cops moved quickly past the fair-skinned passengers, questioning a group of Saudi tourists and a Chicano from Chicago.

In the last seat of the last car, the patrol found Shakira Sarwari. Eight months on the road from war-torn Kandahar, the young Afghan mother clung tightly to her 17-month-old son. Her 7-year-old daughter huddled close, nervously eying the officers. They were now one station away from their final destination: Germany, the promised land of refugees.

But they were not there yet — and after more than a million arrivals in 2015, the German welcome is no longer so warm. In fact, a crackdown at the border is giving those migrants who make it this far the worst odds of crossing than at any point since the height of the crisis last year. It is more evidence, some say, that as Europe’s migrant crisis stokes a mounting voter backlash, even generous Germany is quietly closing its door.

“Your passport,” asked one of the officers, who now have permission from the Austrians to stop migrants on trains bound for Germany.

Sarwari replied with a pleading look, holding up an empty palm.

“Where are you going?” the officer asked slowly. Sarwari tugged nervously at her pink headscarf. In her arms, her son squirmed and whined. Her daughter, terrified, was on the verge of tears.

“To Germany,” Sarwari said. “To Germany.”

The officer shook his head.

“You’ll have to come with us,” he said.

In September 2015, as thousands of migrants a day were converging on Europe, German Chancellor Angela Merkel issued an astounding pledge. In the face of raging wars in the Middle East, she said there was “no limit” to the number of refugees Germany could accept. That promise — along with some of the most generous refugee benefits in the world — made the same country that sparked World War II an asylum seeker’s paradise.

But that has already begun to change. Since March, tougher controls in the Balkans, Greece and Turkey have sharply reduced the number of new arrivals. But hundreds of migrants each week — mostly from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and Africa — are still attempting to enter Germany.

Yet the nation that took in more migrants last year than the rest of Europe combined is making it harder to get in. In August, Germany refused entry to 1,070 of the 2,300 migrants — or 46 percent — it stopped on its side of the Austrian border. In January, when arrival numbers were far higher, only 7 percent of migrants were turned back.

The smaller number of arrivals now, German officials say, has allowed them to more rigorously question migrants and apply rules meant to weed out economic migrants and opportunists. But critics say the policy is too sweeping and that there’s a good chance that people who qualify for German asylum are not being given a chance to apply. A large portion of those coming now also already have family in Germany and are trying to skirt years-long waiting periods for family reunions .

Yet the German message to migrants is clear: It’s not so easy anymore.

“The reality of today’s Germany is a different one than the refugee fairytale of last summer,” said Karl Kopp, spokesman for the migrant aid group Pro Asyl.

It happens as Germany is drowning in a backlog of hundreds of thousands of asylum requests. Last year, it paid $5.91 billion in aid and shelter, more than double the cost in 2014. A violent standoff last week between migrants and right-wing Germans became the latest sign of rising tensions. Germans are investigating 60 cases of migrants allegedly conspiring with Islamist militants.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/germany-migrants-refugees-promised-land-a7335176.html

yomi007k:


u want them to migrate3 there n destroy germany like dey did dir nation?



Hell no.

plappville:


They are not truth worthy. A Muslim can disappoint you big time. Arabs Muslim migrants are dangerous people.

Once they migrated, they will bring out the real islamic color. Starting to decide for the state. My child cannot eat pig at school restaurant, my wife can only see a female gynaecologist, she cannot work in sme offices he with a man, she cannot go to a public pool. My daughter must wear the scarf to school. But at first they will pretend they can support the Western system as long as their lives is safe. This is how they got migrated. The West are very pitiful minded. Yet the Arabs hate them and call them names. The cigarette and alcohol companies pay huge tax to the government.The citizens pay taxes. This money is used to care for these ungrateful people who call themselves Muslims.

yomi007k:




Bros tell dem ooo..

On d superficial ppl think muslims r being victimised but a close study of dem shows dey deserve all wat dey get.