– On October 7th, it will meet for the first time in a non-public session: The new “Individual Commission for Issues of Immigration Law”. It should intervene when well-integrated people are about to be deported.
In April the city council decided to establish it, and in autumn the new “Individual Commission for Issues of Immigration Law” will start work. The members of the new committee should advise on people who are about to be deported and who may be in hardship. An example would be a refugee whose asylum application was rejected after a long process, but who has since integrated perfectly in Nuremberg and who, for example, his employer no longer wants to be without. In such cases, there has often been a violent dispute between refugee organizations and aid groups on the one hand and the city’s immigration authorities on the other. Often referred to the lack of discretion.
Dampen expectations
Of course, the new committee cannot disregard the current laws either, make it clear that the mayor’s office chief Tobias Schmidt and Martina Mittenhuber, head of the human rights office, have to practice “expectation dampening management” (Schmidt). The competencies of the new individual case committee are manageable. If it comes to the conclusion that the refugee should stay in Germany, it makes “a supporting vote, with which the matter is presented to the Bavarian hardship commission”, as stated in the committee’s rules of procedure.
More objectivity
Mind you, this vote or the handling of the case has no suspensive effect, emphasizes Schmidt. But at least one hopes from the decisions of the municipal commission that individual cases do not only reach the Bavarian hardship commission “when it is three to twelve”. One can talk about the cases earlier. In addition, the work of the commission could contribute to the “objectification of the debate”, as the head of communications, Andreas Franke, puts it. In the past, fronts hardened because details about certain individual cases were not known to the public.
–
–
–
The immigration authorities are not allowed to give out any personal information. Now the new committee can – with the consent of the person concerned – discuss controversial cases in a closed session. According to Mittenhuber, this will happen for the first time on October 7th, and cases can be submitted from September 1st.
Asylum seekers have no right to have their situation discussed in the Commission. According to the rules of procedure, the voting members alone decide which cases they bring to the commission; on the other hand, there are also no exclusion clauses. The only condition is that, as a rule, it should be about those affected who are also the responsibility of the Nuremberg Immigration Office and not, for example, that of the State Office for Asylum.
CSU, SPD and Greens are behind it
Members of the commission, which meets on a purely voluntary basis, are city councilors Werner Henning (CSU), Diana Liberova (SPD) and Reka Lörincz (Greens). They are also entitled to vote, as are Gülay Incescu-Asar, the managing director of the Integration Council. On the administrative side, Schmidt and Mittenhuber take part, who together have one vote. In addition, there are non-voting members, a representative of the municipal office for migration (the former immigration authority) and, as a link to the higher level, a representative of the Bavarian hardship commission located in the Ministry of the Interior of the Free State.
–
–
–
The city council groups of the CSU and SPD anchored the formation of the commission in their cooperation agreement for the 2020/26 legislative period and, together with the Greens, also submitted a corresponding application for the city council, which then gave the go-ahead on April 21. Schmidt justifies the fact that the smaller town hall parties are not allowed to send members to the new body with its assignment: “It is not a commission of the town council, but an administrative body.”
With this body, she is definitely “breaking new ground,” says Schmidt. There are only a few role models, for example in Krefeld or Mönchengladbach. “It’s also a test laboratory,” adds Mittenhuber. One now has to wait and see how much work the commissioners have to do. Initially, it is planned that it will meet once a quarter. In addition, there should be an annual report that is presented to the city council and the integration council in public.
