Germany lifts ban on reunions for refugees

Germany on Wednesday resumed family reunifications for some refugees. The move is drawing ire from leftist groups who said a cap of 1,000 people a month was too few, and from a far-right party opposed to immigration altogether, Reuters reports. In 2016, the government suspended the right to bring in immediate family members for asylum seekers granted limited protection to ease the burden on social workers handling a record influx of a million migrants. The ban did not apply to asylum applicants who were granted full refugee status. Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Conservatives and their Social Democrat (SPD) junior coalition partners agreed on a compromise to partially lift the ban from August 1, 2018. “The new rule allows us to achieve a balance between our society’s integration capacity, humanity and security,” Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said.