Boris Palmer on Lanz: "Our immigration law is too complicated"

Boris Palmer is known for provocative statements as well as for pragmatic solutions.

Boris Palmer on Lanz: "Our immigration law is too complicated"

Boris Palmer is known for provocative statements as well as for pragmatic solutions. At Lanz, Germany's best-known local politician speaks about the challenges of refugee care. In addition to the lack of staff, the bureaucracy is what bothers him the most.

If you get stuck, set up a working group. This is how one could summarize the result of the refugee summit, to which Federal Minister of the Interior Nancy had invited in Berlin. The minister did not initially promise any further financial aid for the better accommodation of refugees. Instead, Faeser wants to set up a working group made up of representatives from the federal, state and local governments. By Easter, it should present working structures on how refugees in Germany can be better housed and integrated. In addition, the federal government will examine its properties again and find out whether it can provide additional accommodation for refugees free of charge. Finally, the minister wants to work to ensure that refugees from Ukraine can be better distributed throughout Europe. So far Spain has only taken in 150,000 war refugees. At the beginning of April there will be another refugee summit, to which Chancellor Olaf Scholz will then invite.

Markus Lanz has invited the non-party mayor of Tübingen, Boris Palmer, to speak on the urgent issues of migration on ZDF. The two cannot go into the refugee summit because the program on Thursday evening was already recorded on Wednesday afternoon - actually unusual for a talk show that claims to be topical. Palmer calls for the performance of municipal support systems to be reviewed. "I see a lot of systems that are at the limit of performance or even overwhelmed," notes Palmer.

The ex-Greens named bureaucracy as the biggest problem in this context: "We can simply no longer process all the applications." The German Association of Cities has already criticized this. The rules in immigration law are too complicated, says Palmer - and explains: Refugees who want to work need a residence permit for a work permit. They don't get it because there aren't enough employees in the immigration office to look at the relevant files. "I have now decided in Tübingen with the help of a municipal general decree that everyone who is waiting for a right of residence will have it for the next year. I don't have anyone who could check that, so it just applies now - Signature Palmer, Lord Mayor. The document exists, people have something in their hands for the time being. That applies until a judge comes along who has something against it."

Another problem is child care. It's been understaffed for a long time. Standards are prescribed here that could not be met even before the refugees came from Ukraine. "Childcare in day-care centers can no longer be guaranteed because we can't find the staff. Our job advertisements come up empty," Palmer complains. As a pragmatic solution, he suggests that playgroups should be set up by private individuals. However, there is a problem that Palmer has been complaining about for a long time: the current care standards of the state of Baden-Württemberg would prohibit such initiatives.

Finally, the accommodation of refugees is also problematic. There are hardly any offers for private accommodation anymore, and some municipalities now have to resort to gyms in which refugees have to be accommodated - for years. "This is beyond breaking point." And finally, there is a lack of suitable staff for integration measures, which would include German courses, for example.

If solutions are not found quickly, Palmer fears "that it could come to a point where the ligament is overstretched and the willingness to help breaks."

Dealing with the minority of violent refugees is also difficult, says Palmer. "They are often single travelers who come from countries where violence is practiced and who have also experienced violence themselves. And our constitutional state allows them to do so if they repeatedly commit serious crimes. Our state is dysfunctional there."

For example, Palmer wanted to get employees of the immigration office to inform social workers about refugees who could potentially be violent. The state data protection officer had forbidden him to do so. The poor cooperation ultimately undermines the acceptance of the right to asylum, says Palmer.

At the end of the program one thing is clear: solving the problems in refugee policy that have existed for years is a Herculean task. After all, the federal, state and local governments seem to have recognized the seriousness of the situation and at least want to get the huge integration problem of many refugees under control.