Broad alliance of civil society demands state admission program for Saxony
Due to multiple crises, more and more people are forced to make the life threatening flight from their homeland. It is the task of solidary and resilient societies to support people fleeing violence, climate crisis and war. A broad alliance of associations, charities, organisations, political youth associations and individuals is therefore demanding a state admission program for Saxony.
‘It is already stated in the coalition agreement, now the Saxon state government must also put its plan into action: Saxony must take in people!”, explains Juliane Prüfert from Seebrücke Dresden. The alliance is referring to the admission of at least 150 people in flight contexts who are particularly at risk, as agreed in the coalition agreement. The coalition agreement mentions several examples, such as persecuted Christians as well as women and children from northern Syria and northern Iraq. “In view of the catastrophic developments in Afghanistan and the inadequate implementation of a federal reception program for Afghanistan, the state government should also consider including this group of people in a state reception program,” says Prüfert.
A state reception program enables ‘regulated’ migration
The alliance also underlines that the Saxon Union in particular should be interested in a state reception program. “If a person can stay in Saxony through such a state reception program, it is the ideal case of the ‘regulated’ migration that the CDU frequently longs for. State admission programs create safe escape routes. We therefore do not understand why the Saxon Minister of the Interior has repeatedly spoken out against federal and state reception programs in recent weeks,” explains Paula Moser of the Saxon Refugee Council.
In addition, the alliance criticizes a hierarchization of refugees, as can currently be heard from the interior ministries at the federal and state level: “Those who distort the reception of protection seekers from non-European war zones as a threat situation create new breeding grounds for racist violence. It is much more important now to put all energy into expanding the reception capacities in the Free State,” said Moser.
Action day “Stronger together in Saxony” on Sunday, 27th of November
On Sunday, 27th of November 2022, the alliance invites to rallies. In Dresden, the alliance will be on Schlossplatz from 2pm, in Leipzig there will be an action on Richard-Wagner-Platz from 2pm. Updates on the actions are available on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.
Background: What is a state reception program?
Normally, the federal states are allocated a certain number of refugees by the federal government, for reception. This allocation is based on the so-called “Königstein Key”. However, above that individual federal states can take in even more people. This willingness to take in even more people is called the “Land Reception Program” in political speech. The legal basis for this is § 23 I AufenthG. For actual implementation, the permission from the Federal Ministry of the Interior is required. Most recently, Faeser’s house had given up the blockade attitude of her predecessor Seehofer and agreed to the requested state admission programs.
Contact
Saxon Refugee Council
– Paula Moser –
Mobile: +49 151 181 375 48
Mail: pr@sfrev.de
Seebrücke Dresden
– Juliane Prüfert –
Mobile: +49 157 772 209 72
Mail: juliane.pruefert@seebruecke.org