The scandal over alleged wrongdoing at the BAMF German immigration office in Bremen has put the German asylum system under renewed scrutiny. DW has some statistical context.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/S. Puchner
Advertisement
German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer has apologized, Ulrike B., the former head of the Bremen office of the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) is being investigated for wrongdoing, though concrete charges are yet to materialize, and some 18,000 asylum decisions the office made are to be reviewed.
Meanwhile, a plethora of politicians from all sides of the spectrum are accusing the government of making BAMF and Ulrike B. scapegoats for its own failure to organize an efficient and fair asylum system.
She herself denied all allegations in Bild newspaper this week, and said her office had come under massive political pressure to speed up decision-making procedures – despite a palpable lack of trained staff.
But what does this media-friendly "scandal" mean in the bureaucratic labyrinth that is Germany's asylum system? Here are some numbers that were revealed by the government in March in response to an official information request by the socialist Left party.
1,200
The number of positive asylum decisions that the BAMF office in Bremen made wrongfully between 2013 and 2016.
32,486
The number of negative asylum decisions that were overturned or revised in court, with the applicants accorded some kind of protection, in 2017. In a tweet in late May, socialist Left party leader Katja Kipping noted how these decisions that went against asylum seekers dwarfed those that caused the scandal in Bremen.
Interior Minister Horst Seehofer apologized for the BAMF scandalImage: picture-alliance/dpa/W. Kumm
Under pressure from opposition parties, authorities have agreed to review negative decisions as well as positive ones.
328,382
The number of appeals against negative asylum decisions made in court by asylum seekers in 2017 – more than double the year before. Many opposition party politicians and refugee organizations say that the pressure on BAMF is piling extra work on the courts as the immigration offices make mistakes.
361,059
The number of asylum cases that were still pending in German courts at the end of 2017.
The number of asylum decisions made by German administrative courts in 2017. This is more than double compared with the year before. Germany has seen a massive increase in the number of staff in courts.
8,907
The number of cell phones of asylum applicants that were inspected by the BAMF in 2017. In 918 cases, the results were deemed "case-relevant" – though BAMF did not reveal in how many cases the inspection found evidence of an asylum seeker faking their identity or origin.
45 percent
The percentage of asylum seekers in 2017 who were underage – a significant increase on 2016 (36.2 percent). This might be explained by an increase in the number of asylum applications following legal family reunions.
43.4 percent
The percentage of the total number of asylum seekers who received a positive decision from BAMF in 2017 after their hearings – that is, they were either granted asylum or a stop to their deportations, or received refugee protection or subsidiary protection. This is known in Germany as the "protection quota."
53 percent
This, according to many NGOs, is the actual rate of protection received in Germany in 2017 – the so-called revised protection quota, which includes all the decisions that have been decided on formal grounds – such as when an asylum application is withdrawn, or the BAMF finds that another country is responsible for the decision.
Editor's note: Deutsche Welle follows the German press code, which stresses the importance of protecting the privacy of suspected criminals or victims and obliges us to refrain from revealing full names in such cases.
German asylum scandal: A timeline
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.
