German ‘model’ detention
center is former US Army base, by Ann Corcoran, 4/2/18
Invasion of Europe news…German officials are looking at
replicating the facility in Bavaria throughout the country so that asylum
seekers are pretty much contained in one fenced facility while they wait for a
decision about whether they will be deported or not.
From Deutsche Welle: In Bavaria, one model “reception
center” is home to more than 1,300 asylum-seekers. Directors say the
barbed-wire enclosure and lack of privacy are for “safety” and efficiency. One
resident says “it’s a wasted life.” Is this what the future of asylum management will look like in Germany?
On the outskirts of the romantic UNESCO
World Heritage city of Bamberg in Bavaria, one passes through an unforgiving
security checkpoint manned by tough guards to enter into a facility lined with
barbed wire. This was once a US army base, complete with cinema, supermarket
and disco.
Since July 2016 the long, light-colored
barracks have served as refugee housing. The streets are named after types of
trees. During my visit in December, a thin man in a track suit stood at a
roundabout and waved: “I tell you the truth!” he yelled to me. There are guards
everywhere. Welcome to the Upper Franconia Reception Center.
The way the government sees things, the Upper
Franconia Reception Center provides refugees with everything they need. They can even receive text notifications about the status
of their asylum applications, which they submit at the facility, on
their cellphones.
The Federal Administrative Court has an
office here, as does the region’s immigration agency. The welfare agency is in
Block E. This is all “state of the art” in Krug’s eyes: “If the government decides to put refugees
into centralized accommodations, then our facility is definitely a good model.”
Controversial proposal by interior minister Deutsche Welle continues….That is exactly the plan advocated by Horst
Seehofer, the interior minister in the new federal government and a member of
Bavaria’s conservative Christian Social Union (CSU). He has presented plans to
open “anchor centers” to house asylum applicants from their arrival in Germany
until their requests are granted or they are deported.
And the first one may well be built in
Bavaria. The centers that Seehofer proposes are intended to provide efficiency,
as well as maximum control over the people who come to Germany hoping to find
more sustainable living conditions.
Seehofer has for years presented a hard
line on immigration and frequently come into conflict with German Chancellor
Angela Merkel.
Whether the Bamberg model will be
replicated elsewhere remains to be seen. There is much more and
definitely worth reading.
If the German government put out word
throughout Africa and the Middle East that all migrants flooding in to Germany
would be housed in large facilities it would surely act as a deterrent to many
others trying to get to ‘welcoming’ Europe.
And, hey, couldn’t the US run more
detention centers—a kind of one stop shop until asylum decisions are
made.
Expensive? Probably, but better than
just releasing so many to their supposed relatives and expecting them to show
up for their asylum court date.
My ‘Invasion of Europe’ archive is here.
And, I’ve written a great deal about dear Deutschland, here.
Norb
Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader
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