Tough new restrictions on political asylum
Blessed with a thriving economy and one of the world's most generous political-asylum laws, West Germany has long been a mecca for refugees. That traditional open-door attitude toward political exiles is now being severely tested. Officials estimate that more than 150,000 foreigners will seek asylum in West Germany this year, compared with fewer than 3,000 a decade ago. Most of the immigrants, it appears, come in search of jobs rather than sanctuary, and nine out of every ten refugees requesting asylum will eventually be turned down. But under West Germany's cumbersome judicial procedures, it can take up to eight years to process applications and appeals. Meanwhile, the asylum seekers are free to stay in the country, living on welfare payments that this year will cost federal and local governments up to $500 million.
The new wave of immigrants come from Turkey, Pakistan, Ethiopia, Afghanistan and a dozen other impoverished Third World nations. After entering West Germany as visitors, they immediately apply for political asylum under the constitution that was adopted after World War II as a deliberate antidote to the racist, exclusionary laws of the Nazi era. Article 16 of the constitution guarantees the right of asylum to those persecuted on political grounds and Article 19 assures the right to appeal any denial of asylum.
With welfare costs soaring, West Germans are getting fed up with the immigrants' abuse of their country's hospitality. A number of cities—including Frankfurt and Essen—with large populations of foreign Gastarbeiter (guest workers) and recent immigrants have declared themselves closed to any more asylum seekers. Reason: they feel they are bearing a disproportionate share of the economic burden.
Earlier this month more than 200 Afghans and Ethiopians were stranded for five days at Frankfurt airport; Mayor Walter Wallmann refused to accept them on the grounds that his city had already absorbed 8,000 asylum seekers this year, at a cost of $12 million. Eventually, the refugees were given temporary shelter at an already overcrowded camp for asylum seekers in Bavaria—the only one of its kind in West Germany. But Franz Josef Strauss, minister-president (governor) of Bavaria, has warned: "We cannot continue to push these poor people around."
Strauss and his fellow Bavarians have been pressing Bonn to build more of these camps to handle the immigrants as they arrive. The camps, built at federal expense, would reduce the financial strain on local governments. Last week the Bundesrat (upper house of parliament) instead moved to slow the increasingly burdensome influx of foreigners by passing a tough new set of regulations on asylum applications. Asylum seekers will not be eligible for work permits during their first year in West Germany, nor will family-support payments be made unless asylum has been confirmed. Judicial procedures will be streamlined, so that applications can be processed within two years. Says a Bonn immigration official: "Our aim is to stop abuse of our asylum laws, and in no way block bona fide political refugees. We hope it will help." Adds Stuttgart Mayor Manfred Rommel: "We must destroy the illusion abroad" that West Germany is the promised land. ∎
