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Germany’s Asylum Act of 2015
In 2015, German Chancellor Angela Merkel passed an “open-door policy”  (also called the Asylum Act of 2015) for migrants in light of the recent European Refugee crisis. This decision was motivated by the European refugee crisis where hundreds of thousands of civilians were displaced by the conflicts going on in Syria, Afghanistan, and Iraq. People seeking asylum in Europe often did so by boat headed towards the coast of Italy and Greece; These voyages were sometimes dangerous and resulted in thousands of refugees drowning in the Aegean. By 2015, 1.8 million refugees attempted crossing to Europe. Between the years of 2015 and 2019, Germany accepted 1.7 million asylum seekers. By the end of 2022, Germany hosted around 6% (2.1 million) of the global refugee population.

Germany’s open-door policy marked a departure from previous EU policy regarding refugees. The policy indicated that the state would no longer adhere to the previous approach known as the “Dublin Regulations” (sometimes referred to as the Dublin Rules, the Dublin Agreement, Dublin III, or the Dublin Protocol) which required asylum seekers to claim refuge in the EU state they first arrived in. The Dublin Regulation was originally signed in 1990 but was replaced entirely by the European Commission in 2020 with the New Pact on Migration and Asylum to combat the disproportionate burden placed on certain member states by the large amounts of refugees residing there.

The Asylum Act was amended over the next two years to accelerate the asylum process, extend the time asylum seekers were allowed to stay in reception centers, give authorities the right to refuse applicants with criminal records (suspected or proven), and foster integration for refugees into European society.

The policy passed by Merkel was not without its criticisms. Germany’s Left Party heavily opposed the act due to its preference for non-cash benefits upon arrival and withdrawal of benefits for rejected asylum seekers who refused to leave the state. Further backlash stemmed from anti-immigration groups in Germany and officials seeking EU unity. Chancellor Merkel later reversed her position on asylum seekers to combat governmental conflict sparked by Interior Minister Horst Seehofer after he threatened to resign over the migration policy; Merkel and Seehofer then worked together in 2018 to retighten border control.