Migration officer calls for preparations for new flight movements from Ukraine
“The federal government is on a migration policy ghost trip”
It was believed that after Corona the illegal migration problem was over, the opposite had happened, says CDU domestic politician Philipp Amthor. Where deportations are legally required, they must also be carried out.
The number of refugees arriving from Ukraine is currently declining. “But a hard war winter can change that,” says the federal government’s migration commissioner, Reem Alabali-Radovan (SPD).
DThe Federal Government’s Migration Commissioner, Reem Alabali-Radovan (SPD), has called for preparations to be made for possible new refugee movements from Ukraine. The number of newly arriving refugees from Ukraine is currently declining at around 150 per day, “but a hard war winter can change that,” Alabali-Radovan told the editorial network Germany (Tuesday).
A change in the movement of refugees would first affect the direct neighbors Poland and also the Czech Republic, she said. “We must therefore remain in close contact with our neighboring countries and be prepared to continue to take in people who are fleeing war and great hardship from Ukraine.”
Before the refugee summit on Tuesday, the SPD politician called the admission and accommodation of refugees “a great joint effort by the federal, state and local authorities”. “Uptake and distribution are generally going well,” she added, “but not always and not everywhere.”
Alabali-Radovan pointed out that the federal government is “already making a significant financial contribution” to the accommodation of refugees: “Around two billion euros were already promised in April – and it is a significant relief for the federal states that the Ukrainian refugees are treated as recipients of basic security be paid for by the federal government.”
“There are always unspeakable campaigns against refugees”
There is “still a great deal of solidarity in Germany” towards refugees from Ukraine, she said. At the same time, she warned: “There are always unspeakable campaigns against refugees, also from Russian propaganda slingshots. We must resolutely oppose this.”
Alabali-Radovan rejected the accusation from the Union that the federal government was creating new “pull factors” for migrants with citizen income and “opportunity residence rights”. “Friedrich Merz tried to fish for votes in the state elections on the right-hand side, that was unbearable,” she told RND.
According to the right of residence, which is to be decided in the Bundestag in the coming weeks, anyone who has been living in Germany for at least five years on January 1, 2022 can stay and work there. This affects around 135,000 people.
Federal Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser (SPD) is meeting with local and state representatives on Tuesday to discuss further care for refugees. According to the Ministry of the Interior, this is about coordination between the state levels in view of “the tense situation surrounding the reception of refugees” before winter. The municipalities have been demanding more support for weeks in view of the increasing number of refugees.