“They’re sitting at the dentist”
Merz provokes with statements about rejected asylum seekers
September 27, 2023, 11:13 p.m
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In a TV debate, CDU leader Merz paints a drastic picture: rejected asylum seekers would get new teeth at the doctor, while German citizens would have to wait for appointments. Green Party leader Lang then accuses him of being unworthy of being the leader of the People’s Party.
The CDU chairman Friedrich Merz has called on the federal government to curb irregular migration with a drastic comparison. “The population will go crazy, the people, when they see that 300,000 asylum seekers have been rejected, are not allowed to leave the country, are getting full benefits, are getting full medical care,” said Merz in the “Welt-Talk” on the Welt television station.
“They’re sitting at the doctor’s and having their teeth done, and the German citizens next door can’t get any appointments. What you’re doing here is a catastrophe for this country,” he added to the SPD and Green party leaders, Lars Klingbeil and Omid Nouripour , added. “We have to talk about the pull factors here in Germany (…). They exist, and they exist massively, so that people come here in large numbers,” explained Merz.
Green Party leader Nouripour rejected the allegations. “If we all decide that we are destroying the West, we won’t get any further.” Merz replied: “So far it is like that.” SPD leader Klingbeil, meanwhile, advised keeping “populist tones” out of the debate. The linguistic images that Merz draws contribute to “those who we don’t want to be strong in this country becoming stronger.”
Around four fifths of those required to leave the country were tolerated
Green Party leader Ricarda Lang also contradicted the CDU leader. “Friedrich Merz is deliberately playing groups off against each other, spreading false information. Not a single problem is solved in this way, but hatred is stirred up. That is unworthy of the chairman of a people’s party,” she wrote on the Platform Xformerly Twitter.
According to a report, a request from the Left Party to the federal government at the beginning of the month revealed that, according to Central Register of Foreigners A total of 279,098 people will be required to leave the country by June 30th. For the first time in ten years, the number of people obliged to leave the country has fallen by eight percent – also as a result of the traffic light coalition’s new opportunity residence law, it was said.
Around four fifths of those required to leave the country have a toleration status because those affected cannot be deported, for example because of the situation in their country of origin or for legal or humanitarian reasons. According to the government response, many tolerated people are not scheduled to be deported, for example if they have started training or employment. According to the information, around a quarter are missing their travel documents, but only less than ten percent of those tolerated (almost 21,000 people) are assumed by the immigration authorities to be preventing their deportation.
Merz’s claim that rejected asylum seekers had their teeth “re-done” is difficult to reconcile with the current legal situation. Rejected asylum seekers also have access to the German health system – but only to a limited extent. Loud Asylum Seekers Benefits Act Treatment is limited to the treatment of acute illnesses and pain conditions. The provision of dentures is therefore only possible if it “cannot be postponed for medical reasons in individual cases”.