Following the failed attempt to deport a Syrian family in Naumburg, in which a ten-year-old was taken out of class in tears, the state chairwoman of Alliance 90/The Greens Saxony-Anhalt, Susan Sziborra-Seidlitz, has sharply criticized the asylum policy of the CDU/CSU and SPD:
“If a state demonstrates its power by taking children out of class, then something is fundamentally wrong. Having children taken away by officials in school gyms is cruel and inhumane.”
Sziborra-Seidlitz refers to current recommendations by the German Federation of Education Workers (GEW) and pedagogical associations, which classify school deportations as a measure of last resort in strict compliance with proportionality. The procedure chosen in Naumburg obviously contradicts this principle.
Sziborra-Seidlitz blames the CDU/CSU and SPD in the federal government as well as state Interior Minister Tamara Zieschang (CDU) for the political climate in which such deportations become possible: “When the CDU publicly calls for more deportations and the SPD goes along, human dignity and child welfare become a minor matter. Ms. Zieschang is responsible in Saxony-Anhalt for ensuring that such scenes do not become the norm.”
The Green politician demands:
- an immediate end to deportations from schools and daycare centers,
- an investigation of the case by the state administration office,
- and an asylum policy that does not sacrifice humanity for populism.
“We need protection instead of show politics – and a state that protects children instead of having them taken away in class.”