Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) left an incendiary letter from a Thuringian district administrator on asylum policy unanswered for almost three months. Then a department head spoke up and praised the course of the traffic light effusively. He ignored the problems at the base.

The cry for help from the Thuringian province left nothing to be desired in terms of clarity. Politicians from the Schmalkalden-Meiningen district described their attitude to the “state and federal migration policy” in drastic terms. The clear message was that with around 4,000 asylum seekers and Ukrainian refugees admitted, the region had reached “the absolute limit of its capacity”.

There are “hardly any” accommodation options left, sustainable integration of refugees is “hardly possible” and integration into the labor market is “slow”. The worsening situation is leading to a “heavy burden on the social systems in the district”.

The people’s representatives linked their wake-up call to a total of eleven demands to the politicians in Berlin and Erfurt. These included the “effective fight against illegal migration”, “effective and functioning repatriation strategies” and the “drastic reduction of benefits for asylum seekers who are required to leave the country”.

The decision-makers led by District Administrator Peggy Greiser (independent) sent their explosive resolution to Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) in mid-February 2024 – and hoped for a quick and consistent reaction. 

But it happened for a long time: nothing. It was only almost three months later, at the beginning of May, that the head of the department responsible for migration policy in the Ministry of the Interior reported back.

Ministerial Director Ulrich Weinbrenner thanked Greiser and her colleagues in the Deep East for their “valuable contribution to this necessary discussion across society” and their “great commitment”. He then listed extensive examples of the federal government’s supposedly excellent work. He didn’t say a word about the problems mentioned or even suggested that the traffic lights could be partly responsible for the misery.

The style of the response from Faeser’s ministry is reminiscent of the propaganda adulation of the party and state leadership in the GDR, true to the motto: The officials under Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) always do everything right and have the situation firmly under control. 

FOCUS online documents the most succinct passages from the four-page letter to District Administrator Greiser so that every reader can form their own opinion.

Right at the beginning, department head Weinbrenner states in the most beautiful official German:

“The diverse topics of migration and integration policy are discussed intensively at the highest political level and conceivable solutions are carefully considered. Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz regularly discusses the relevant issues with the heads of government of the federal states. The implementation will be carefully monitored.”

Below, the Faeser employee lists the achievements of the ministry and the entire federal government – a potpourri of good deeds:

In the final part of his letter, the Interior Ministry official once again assured that those responsible would do everything for the well-being of the people. He emphasized that “the federal government takes the challenges of migration policy very seriously and is continually working on solutions that ensure both the protection of human rights and the security and well-being of our society.”

Essentially, the content of the ministerial letter can be summarized in one sentence:

With a level of self-congratulation that can hardly be surpassed and the consistent ignoring of one’s own mistakes, an attempt is made to highlight the government’s – supposedly – great achievements in asylum and migration policy.

Not a word about the fact that measures such as the reintroduction of internal border controls were blocked by Interior Minister Feaser for a long time and only came about after massive pressure from the opposition. Or that the “payment card” for asylum seekers – also mentioned in the letter – met with massive resistance within the traffic lights, especially from the Greens.

The declining acceptance of asylum seekers within the population, the problems caused by immigrant crime, the blatant difficulties with deportations or the financial and logistical burdens on municipalities were also not worth mentioning. Not to mention concrete promises or offers of help to the stricken cities and communities.

The district administrators and mayors at the grassroots level cannot buy anything from the platitudes from Berlin. They remain stuck with most of their problems. There is no improvement in sight – on the contrary.

“Little to nothing” has happened since the resolution was passed, criticized District Administrator Peggy Greiser in an interview with FOCUS online. On the contrary. The recent excesses of violence on Thuringian regional trains, where violent attacks by young asylum seekers continue to occur, showed “how urgent our demands still are”.  

Their hopes that those in power will change their minds and initiate a real correction of their asylum course are low.