The German Asylum Seekers’ Benefits Act allows applicants to be deprived of funds in excess of €200. Baden-Württemberg wants to extend this and is modelling itself on Denmark.
The Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Justice wants to focus more on deterrent measures when taking in refugees. This includes the widespread confiscation of valuables, as State Secretary of Justice Siegfried Lorek (Christian Democratic Union, CDU) explained to the Stuttgarter Zeitung newspaper. The state government, which also includes the Green Party, is modelling itself on Denmark, where similar regulations have been in place for years. At present, money is only confiscated in individual cases in the federal state, for example in the Heidelberg arrival centre, and used to cover the costs of the asylum procedure. This approach will now be ‘rolled out across the board’, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Justice told ‘nd’.
The basis for the reprisal is the Asylum Seekers’ Benefits Act, which has been in force since 1993 and which stipulates in Section 7 that the income and assets of those entitled to benefits and family members “must be used up before benefits are paid in accordance with this Act”. This should also apply to accommodation in a centre where benefits in kind are granted.
According to the spokesperson, funds are confiscated if they exceed the deductible of €200 that applies in Baden-Württemberg. They are then transferred to the account of the regional council and from there to the responsible district, ‘nd’ learnt back in 2016. A maximum of up to €5,000 can be withheld.
The fact that jewellery and other valuables are now also to be turned into money is causing criticism. The Baden-Württemberg Refugee Council points out that the measure is primarily symbolic in nature. Clara Bünger, refugee policy spokesperson for the Left Party in the Bundestag, agrees. ‘There is nothing wrong with wealthy asylum seekers paying for their own care,’ the MP told “nd”. However, the vast majority of refugees are destitute or even heavily indebted: ‘Not least because they had to spend huge sums of money on their dangerous escape’.
‘Anyone who takes advantage of our protection and has income or assets must contribute to the cost of accommodation,’ says the Ministry of Justice spokesperson, explaining the tightening of the rules. Following a delegation trip to Copenhagen, Migration and Justice Minister Marion Gentges (CDU) now wants to propose to the other federal states that they orientate themselves more towards Denmark in terms of migration policy and also restrict the options for appealing against asylum decisions.
Published in German in „nd“.
Image: Asylum seekers pay large sums of money for dangerous journeys, and a green and conservative governed federal state collects their jewels in the end (Regierungspräsidium Baden-Württemberg).
