As the scandal at the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees widens with fresh allegations of impropriety, Interior Minister Horst Seehofer wants to push forward with his "master plan" to reform the asylum system.
Image: Imago/J. Schicke
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German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer has said that the scandal over public workers allegedly having accepted bribes and improperly approving more than a thousand asylum applications at the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) in Bremen represents an opportunity for large-scale reform.
"The Bremen case confirms to me that we need to change the whole asylum organization in Germany," Seehofer told German broadcaster ZDF on Sunday.
Seehofer, a strong proponent of curbing migration, had already floated changes to migration processing even prior to the BAMF scandal. The conservative minister has proposed the creation of so-called "anchor centers," a plan that would place all refugees in specific centers upon arrival for processing.
The proposal has been rejected by NGOs and is unpopular with the Social Democrats (SPD), who share governing powers with Seehofer's Christian Social Union (CSU) in Angela Merkel's grand coalition.
But Seehofer has doubled down on his proposal. He explained to ZDF that in light of the Bremen scandal, the anchor centers are even more necessary, as they would make asylum procedures speedier and safer.
The interior minister said his "master plan" was ready and that it would be made public in the next two weeks.
Germany's Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) is under fire over allegations that officials in some branches may have accepted bribes in exchange for granting asylum. Thousands of cases will be re-examined.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/J. Stratenschulte
Corruption scandal at BAMF
On April 20, 2018, a number of employees at the regional BAMF office in Bremen were accused of having illegally accepted hundreds of asylum applicants between 2013 and 2017, mainly from Iraq's Yazidi community. Bremen public prosecutors announced that six people, including the former director of the Bremen BAMF office, were under investigation for alleged corruption in about 1,200 cases.
Image: picture alliance/dpa/Geisler-Fotopress
Damage control
Steffen Seibert, spokesman for German Chancellor Angela Merkel, reacted swiftly to the allegations, saying it would be wrong to speculate on what consequences the incident could have for the BAMF immigration offices. He said that the "extremely serious allegations" would first have to be resolved. The BAMF scandal could be a major embarrassment to Chancellor Merkel's open-door policy to refugees.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/K. Nietfeld
The plot thickens
A few weeks into the scandal, German media reported that 13 further regional BAMF branches were going to be subject to checks regarding their approval of asylum applications. The branches had apparently come under scrutiny for showing noticeable differences in the number of asylum applications accepted or rejected in comparison to other offices. Some 8,000 applications will have to be re-checked.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/J. Stratenschulte
BAMF head under fire
A month into the scandal, details emerged that BAMF had been informed about the possible improprieties in Bremen earlier than thought, German news magazine Der Spiegel reported. The irregularities were reportedly flagged back in February 2017. In the light of the growing scandal, BAMF head Jutta Cordt announced that some 18,000 asylum decisions made in Bremen since 2000 now had to be re-checked.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/B. von Jutrczenka
Seehofer to face parliamentary committee
German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer meanwhile confirmed that he would testify before a special meeting of the Bundestag internal affairs committee to be convened at the request of the Green Party. The committee hopes to avoid a full-blown parliamentary investigation, which two other opposition parties — the populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) and the center-right FDP — are calling for.
Image: picture alliance/dpa/D. Karmann
Man of the hour
This might be the man who would have to answer some serious questions if a comprehensive parliamentary inquiry should be launched. Thomas de Maiziere was Germany's interior minister until the beginning of the year, overseeing the management of asylum application at the height of the refugee crisis. De Maiziere, an ally of Merkel's, criticized the shortcomings of the assessment system in the past.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/M. Schreiber
Stripped of authority
On May 23, the German Interior Ministry prohibited the regional BAMF office in Bremen from deciding whether individual refugees will be given asylum in the country. Seehofer said an internal BAMF report had shown that "legal regulations and internal policies" had been "disregarded" at the center.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/M. Assanimoghaddam
Federal Police join probe
The city of Bremen has said Germany's Federal Criminal Police are now part of the inquiry into the wide-ranging corruption. The decision came after a crisis meeting on the scandal surrounding the city's asylum procedure for refugees.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/ZB/M. Toedt
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Allegations at second BAMF office
Following the Bremen scandal, practices at another BAMF office have also come into question. Internal documents show that an employee blew the whistle months ago on irregular practices in a BAMF office in Bingen, a town in Rhineland-Palatinate, near the city of Mainz.
At the Bingen center, refugees from certain countries had been granted approvals at markedly higher rates than those from other countries.
The complaint cites one example, between January and October 2017, where 97 percent of applications from Iran received an approval, while 90 percent of applications from Afghanistan were approved for some form of right to stay. But nationwide rates of approvals for refugees from these two countries were at 50 percent and 44 percent, respectively.
While it has yet to be proven if the irregular situation in Bingen can be attributed to a statistical anomaly, documents from Bingen also show that some BAMF employees might have lacked the proper training to make asylum application decisions.
Seehofer and the head of BAMF, Jutta Cordt, are expected to appear on Tuesday at a hearing in Germany's parliament, where they will face questions from a committee that has been tasked with investigating the BAMF scandal in Bremen.
