https://feeds.thelocal.com/ Read the latest news and views from Germany in English en-us news@thelocal.com (TheLocal) webmaster@thelocal.com (TheLocal) TheLocal RSS Feed Zaid al-Ahmad fled from war in Iraq, but the 23-year-old is still struggling to get out of a bureaucratic web in Berlin. https://www.thelocal.de/20180905/three-years-after-germanys-borders-opened-how-many-migrants-are-lost-in-bureacratic-web Wed, 05 Sep 2018 17:02:56 +0200 three-years-after-germanys-borders-opened-how-many-migrants-are-lost-in-bureacratic-web Germany said Thursday it would refrain from deporting members of China's mostly Muslim Uighur minority over human rights concerns, after admitting a Uighur man was sent back by mistake in April. https://www.thelocal.de/20180824/germany-halts-deportation-of-chinese-muslims-over-human-rights Fri, 24 Aug 2018 12:56:33 +0200 germany-halts-deportation-of-chinese-muslims-over-human-rights Despite high profile scandals in the past year, the number of refugees who have been unlawfully granted asylum is far lower than feared, the Sueddeutsche Zeitung reported on Monday. https://www.thelocal.de/20180820/asylum-granted-legally-in-over-99-percent-of-cases-review-finds Mon, 20 Aug 2018 14:23:31 +0200 asylum-granted-legally-in-over-99-percent-of-cases-review-finds An asylum seeker deported to Afghanistan this month will be returned to Germany, the interior ministry said Wednesday, in the latest of a series of scandals surrounding Berlin's hardening migration policy. https://www.thelocal.de/20180719/wrongfully-deported-afghan-to-return-to-germany-ministry Thu, 19 Jul 2018 10:09:03 +0200 wrongfully-deported-afghan-to-return-to-germany-ministry German Chancellor Angela Merkel came under pressure Sunday over a brewing scandal surrounding the office charged with processing more than a million asylum seekers who have arrived in the country since 2015. https://www.thelocal.de/20180604/merkel-accused-of-ignoring-warnings-of-malpractice-at-refugee-authority Mon, 04 Jun 2018 12:18:33 +0200 merkel-accused-of-ignoring-warnings-of-malpractice-at-refugee-authority A criminal syndicate helped Nigerian immigrants get residency by providing Berlin authorities with fake papers. The immigration authority reportedly ignored internal warnings and kept approving the applications. https://www.thelocal.de/20180529/berlin-immigration-authorities-enabled-years-long-fraud-report Tue, 29 May 2018 15:38:15 +0200 berlin-immigration-authorities-enabled-years-long-fraud-report Many refugees in the city of Bremen are worried that they could face deportation after a major scandal at the city’s immigration authority, where officials allegedly took bribes in return for offering asylum. https://www.thelocal.de/20180525/refugees-left-anxious-over-future-after-bremen-asylum-scandal Fri, 25 May 2018 16:49:54 +0200 refugees-left-anxious-over-future-after-bremen-asylum-scandal Interior Minister Horst Seehofer has said that he won’t spare reputations in his efforts to get to the bottom of a scandal that has hit public trust in the asylum process. What is the so-called 'Bamf affair'? https://www.thelocal.de/20180522/bribes-asylum-and-a-cover-up-what-to-know-about-the-bamf-affair Tue, 22 May 2018 15:03:21 +0200 bribes-asylum-and-a-cover-up-what-to-know-about-the-bamf-affair A senior member of Bavaria’s Christian Social Union (CSU) sparked a heated discussion this week when he claimed that Germany has an “anti-deportation industry.” Did he have a point? https://www.thelocal.de/20180511/the-asylum-industry-debate-who-is-profiting-from-the-refugee-crisis Fri, 11 May 2018 17:57:59 +0200 the-asylum-industry-debate-who-is-profiting-from-the-refugee-crisis Following a scandal at the Federal Office for Immigration and Refugees (BAMF) Bremen branch, over 4,500 asylum cases will be re-examined and tougher policies put in place. https://www.thelocal.de/20180426/4500-asylum-cases-to-be-re-examined-in-germany Thu, 26 Apr 2018 13:01:02 +0200 4500-asylum-cases-to-be-re-examined-in-germany A senior official at the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) allegedly granted asylum to more than 1,200 applicants without valid legal reasons for their approval. She has since been removed from her position. https://www.thelocal.de/20180420/former-migration-official-in-bremen-suspected-of-illegally-approving-1200-asylum-cases Fri, 20 Apr 2018 14:32:45 +0200 former-migration-official-in-bremen-suspected-of-illegally-approving-1200-asylum-cases So far this year more than 17,000 refugees have sued German authorities for not giving them full refugee status, with the vast majority winning their cases, the Süddeutsche Zeitung reports. https://www.thelocal.de/20161018/17000-refugees-sue-germany-over-status-and-most-win Tue, 18 Oct 2016 18:20:44 +0200 17000-refugees-sue-germany-over-status-and-most-win Kosovo Prime Minister Isa Mustafa said Sunday his brother had sought asylum in Germany, after joining the mass migrant influx into the European Union last year. https://www.thelocal.de/20160321/kosovo-pms-brother-sought-asylum-in-germany Mon, 21 Mar 2016 09:26:17 +0100 kosovo-pms-brother-sought-asylum-in-germany If more than 500,000 refugees arrive in Germany this year the result will be continuing backlogs of undecided asylum applications, the country's top refugee official warned on Thursday. https://www.thelocal.de/20160303/refugee-boss-warns-of-new-asylum-backlog Thu, 03 Mar 2016 11:29:22 +0100 refugee-boss-warns-of-new-asylum-backlog A group of women at an emergency shelter in Cologne have accused the security personnel there of spying on them naked and even trying to blackmail them into sex. https://www.thelocal.de/20160218/refugee-women-accuse-cologne-security-men-of-sex-crimes Thu, 18 Feb 2016 15:23:38 +0100 refugee-women-accuse-cologne-security-men-of-sex-crimes The Interior Ministry on Tuesday said that there was no hard limit on the number of asylum applications to be processed in 2016, after a newspaper reported that it had set a limit of 500,000 - less than half the number that arrived in 2015. https://www.thelocal.de/20160216/government-expects-500000-refugees-in-2016 Tue, 16 Feb 2016 09:43:29 +0100 government-expects-500000-refugees-in-2016 A mess up in government bureaucracy led the government to inform a 20-month-old asylum seeker she had a week to leave the country - while the rest of her family seemed to be allowed to stay. https://www.thelocal.de/20160215/germany-orders-refugee-baby-to-leave-without-family Mon, 15 Feb 2016 17:19:57 +0100 germany-orders-refugee-baby-to-leave-without-family German authorities are struggling to process hundreds of thousands of asylum applications, the head of the country's refugee office admitted Friday, even though a record influx of migrants was finally slowing. https://www.thelocal.de/20160205/germany-struggling-under-unacceptable-backlog-of-refugee Fri, 05 Feb 2016 15:18:01 +0100 germany-struggling-under-unacceptable-backlog-of-refugee More than 200 people are suing the German government in North Rhine-Westphalia for taking too long to process their asylum applications, a survey by a newspaper showed on Wednesday. https://www.thelocal.de/20160120/200-asylum-seekers-sue-govt-over-slow-work Wed, 20 Jan 2016 12:25:45 +0100 200-asylum-seekers-sue-govt-over-slow-work Ministers rushed to defend the new head of the national refugee authority from attacks by leaders of Germany's federal states, saying he had only been in the position a few weeks and needed time to make a difference. https://www.thelocal.de/20151207/states-slam-new-refugee-boss-for-slow-work Mon, 07 Dec 2015 09:50:29 +0100 states-slam-new-refugee-boss-for-slow-work