Bundestag: criticism of suspension of family reunification – Syrian affected

In the first consultation of the Bundestag, Federal Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt confirmed his will to limit irregular immigration. There is “not a single switch that can be killed and then the problem of illegal migration is solved,” said the CSU politician. Rather, a large number of measures at national and European level are necessary for this, which the Federal Government are now implementing step by step.

In the ranks of the Greens and the left, his statements caused astonishment. After all, family reunification is not an irregular migration, but an orderly procedure in which it is clear who can get into the country. Those who block legal paths are promoting the Schleuser business, said Greens MP Schahina Gambir. The planned reform is inhumane because “families belong together”, criticized them.

The left-wing politician Clara Bünger called the design of the Union and the SPD “anti-Christian” and “hostile to family”. He drives people into illegality instead of creating legal ways.

So far a maximum of 12,000 relatives per year

Family reunification to people with limited protection status – unlike for other recognized refugees – is already limited to 1,000 relatives per month. According to the coalition, it should be completely exposed to two years.

Only in “hardship cases” should those entitled to protect – in this category, many people from Syria – then spouse, minor children and, in the case of unaccompanied minors, are allowed to catch up with the parents.

In addition, the draft, which still has to be discussed, provides for anchoring the goal of an “limitation” of immigration. The traffic light government had deleted this term from the right of residence.

The number of asylum applications last decreased

In 2023, 329,120 asylum applications were made in Germany, the following year 229,751 people made an asylum application for the first time. In the first five months of this year, the number of asylum applications continued.

It is controversial among migration experts whether this is more of the consequence of the inpatient controls that have been successively arranged in recent years at all German internal borders or the result of measures of other countries such as Serbia and Poland. “Border controls work and that’s why we continue them,” said Dobrindt.

Difficult compromise for the SPD

SPD speakers emphasized that the compromise for family reunification agreed with the Union was difficult for her faction. Rasha Nasr (SPD) said that the project was “an expression of what was politically possible”. She advocated making the hardship control flexibly. As a former integration officer, she knew that family life is a “essential component for successful integration”.

Throm refers to a new location in Syria

The Union Group’s domestic spokesman, Alexander Throm, said that the family reunification for subsidiary protection is a significant “pull factor”. The CDU politician pointed out that people from Syria still have the opportunity to work their own livelihood and thus maintain a different residence title that allows family reunification. In addition, the situation in Syria has changed fundamentally due to the fall of President Bashar al-Assad, which means that a return to the old homeland was also possible.

The AfD is not largely enough. Her domestic politician Gottfried Curio spoke of a “migration turn with an attracted handbrake”.

According to the foreigners’ central register, 388,074 people with a residence permit were in Germany on March 31, 2025 in Germany.