Avoiding deportation from Germany: every fifth asylum seeker was born in the country

In the first half of 2019, there were more asylum applications of German-born infants than women of maternal age. One of the reasons is probably the better chances for children to stay.

Whether in Ellwangen, Freital or Frankfurt - who occasionally visits asylum centers sees many young women with infants or pregnant. Now most of them come from child-friendly cultures. Nevertheless, it is surprising that the collective housing is home to migrants who have not been in the country for long and whose asylum procedures are usually not yet completed. Who was recognized as a refugee, usually gets an apartment assigned and then no longer lives in the asylum facilities.

In the first half of 2019, there were more asylum applications for German-born babies than for women of maternal age. According to the tables of the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF), which are available on Die Welt am Sonntag, 11,972 asylum applications were submitted by women between the ages of 16 and 40 in the first half of the year. In the same period of time, 15,586 asylum applications were submitted by "children born after their entry into Germany under one year of age", according to the Federal Ministry of the Interior.

However, it also includes children of rejected asylum seekers who are required to leave the country but apply for asylum for their baby. There are also rejected candidates who received a special sub-type of a humanitarian residence permit (clause 25.5). In addition, recognized refugees make asylum applications for their children in unknown numbers, although they do not have to. The BAMF was unable to specify these indefinite quantities separately. Overall, according to the Federal Ministry of the Interior, every fifth (21%) asylum first applicant (15,586 out of 72,953) in the first half of 2019 was a German-born child of less than one year old.

It was already similar in 2018: At that time, 20% (32,303) were the first applicants. The group of up to three-year-old asylum seekers was by far the largest age cohort (27%, 43,480). If one looks at the statistics, then the slogan "Only young men come here" must be replaced by "It will be mainly babies".

Among the many reasons to have a child soon after arriving in Germany, one could also be to increase the chances of getting permit to stay, several domestic politicians and government officials said to Die Welt am Sonntag. Rejected asylum seekers with small children are only deported to their countries of origin in very few exceptional cases.

Deportation of asylum seekers traveling out of the EU country responsible for them, are rarely returned to that country of registration as soon as a toddler under the age of three is in the family group. In this context, anti-deportation counselors and NGOs, have been delivering brochures highlighting the importance of having a baby as a way of securing a place to stay in the EU. Examples of this are found in the Pro-Asyl issue "First Aid Against Dublin Deportations" or in the "Welcome to Europe" Guidebook "How to Prevent Dublin Deportations" published in Arabic, Farsi and other languages.

No mother with small children is transfer back to Greece, the main transit for asylum seekers, due to housing limitations, and the same happens with Malta, Bulgaria and Hungary. Even those who in the past few years traveled illegally to Germany via the second important country of arrival, Italy, they did not have to fear a transfer if a toddler was in the family.

Between 2014 and 2017, even rejections of 16-year olds and their families were not possible because the Federal Constitutional Court estimated that the care for young migrants in Italy was inhumane. Since spring, the return of minors who traveled illegally within other countries is again possible, because the accommodation of asylum seekers in Italy has significantly improved, according to BAMF.

Although there are no separate Dublin statistics for toddlers, but in total for minors: In the first half of 2019, according to BAMF statistics, there were just 778 so-called Dublin rejections of under 18-year olds. The most important destination was France (138). The most important nationality was surprisingly Russian (151). 58 minors were transferred to Italy, one to Greece.

Source: "Jeder fünfte Asylbewerber ist in Deutschland geboren" (Die Welt, 01-09-2019)