Asylum Policy

The last three decades have been characterized by steady tightening of asylum and residence law. Deterrence, isolation and the shifting of responsibility have no place in asylum policy. Asylum policy must be people-oriented. The individual needs of those seeking protection must be combined with dignity and humanity on an equal footing. A violation of the dignity of those seeking protection is a violation of our basic democratic values.

An ideal world would be one where each person can choose to migrate to a different location, but no one is forced to do so. Until we have achieved this utopia, legal escape routes into the European Union must be created. When people seeking protection make their way to Europe and then drown on the Mediterranean Sea or fall victim to misery administration in camps on the European external borders, then Europe makes itself unworthy of its name. Rescue at sea must be decriminalized and become a state task. Every day that a person spends in the slum administration on Lesvos is one too many! State admission programs must be made possible by a change in the Residence Act.

Language, education and work mean power and enable social participation. Therefore, access to language courses, school and access to the labor market must be possible for those seeking protection from their arrival in Germany. In order to arrive safely, it is just as important that those seeking protection can live in their commune in the same way as people with a German passport. That means we have to move away from mass camps and towards our own apartments for refugees. A good arrival also means being able to have loved ones around you. That is why I am committed to dismantling the bureaucratic hurdles involved in family reunification. Because families belong together.

Years or decades of toleration by people in a chain are inhumane. Only a long-term right to stay can break this vicious circle. Deportations are always an inhuman act. Deportations tear people from their lives painfully. I particularly condemn deportations to crisis and war zones such as Afghanistan or Syria. It doesn't matter whether someone has committed a criminal offense or not. The dignity of man is inviolable. And that means no one may be deported to a country where his * her life is in danger.

More about my work on the subject of asylum policy and in particular human rights can be found in the section: