Germany lifts ban on reunions for refugees, rekindles integration debate

Excerpt:

Germany on Wednesday resumed family reunifications for some refugees, drawing ire from leftist groups who said a cap of 1,000 people a month was too little and a far-right party opposed to immigration altogether.

The government in 2016 suspended the right to bring in immediate family members for asylum seekers granted limited protection in a move to ease the burden on social workers handling a record influx of a million migrants.

The ban did not apply to asylum applicants granted full refugee status as they have a constitutional right to invite their families to join them.

After big losses to an anti-immigrant party in an election last year, Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives and their Social Democrat (SPD) junior coalition partners agreed on a compromise to partially lift the ban from Aug. 1, 2018.

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