German Chancellor Angela Merkel Proposes Stricter Migrant Laws Following New Year's Eve Attacks In Cologne
Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel has opened the door of Germany to refugees seeking asylum in the country over the past year. Germany received an estimated one million asylum-seekers with its open-door migrant policy. However, the recent incidence of violence and growing concern for national security has urged Merkel to call for tighter laws and policies to regulate the influx of asylum-seekers.
On Saturday, Chancellor Merkel proposed the adoption of a more aggressive migrant policy during a meeting with senior party officials, Time reported. Merkel said she will be discussing the proposed policy with her coalition partners and pledged that such step would aid Germany in deporting "serial offenders" who are convicted of crimes.
According to a published article in the Wall Street Journal on Sunday, the German chancellor described the Cologne incident as "repugnant, criminal offenses."
"When crimes are committed, and people place themselves outside the law then there must be consequences for asylum claims," she said.
The said proposal is perceived to further intensify the ability of police authorities to perform thorough and deliberate checking of identity papers at various checkpoints. Merkel is also lobbying a stricter asylum law under which foreigners who had been convicted of light to serious crimes would be excluded in the granting process.
"Serial offenders who consistently, for example, return to theft or time and again insult women must count on the force of the law," Chancellor Merkel added.
Christian Joisten, one of Cologne's city councilmen, said the New Year's Even incident has become a turning point for people to move away from the country's Willkommenskultur, or Germany's hospitable "welcome culture" towards migrants.
