U-turn in Migration Policy. Germany Suspends Family Reunification of Refugees

The Bundestag (German parliament) has approved a bill by the German government to suspend for two years the reunification of families of migrants who have not been granted refugee status, but who have received the right to temporarily stay in Germany. This is reported by TASS.

444 deputies voted for the document, 135 voted against.

Since 2018, close relatives of persons who have received so-called subsidiary protection, i.e. spouses and minor children of migrants who have not received refugee status, but who cannot be deported to their countries for humanitarian reasons, can move to Germany. According to the DPA agency, at the end of March there were about 388 thousand people living in Germany who had received subsidiary protection. A quarter of them were Syrians.

The bill was presented by Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt.