The lower house of the German parliament (Bundestag) today approved a security package proposed by the government that will cut aid to migrants seeking asylum in other EU countries.
The package consists of several measures, including restricting aid to asylum seekers forced to flee the country and who have applied to enter another EU country, although the move clarifies that exceptions may be made in the case of minors.
The legislation follows an attack in late August at a local party in the western German city of Solingen, when a 26-year-old Syrian asylum seeker killed three people with a knife.
Investigations suggest that the stabbing was motivated by Islamic extremism and the attacker may have escaped a deportation order from Germany to Bulgaria, reigniting debate over the treatment of asylum seekers and migrants by German authorities.
Alongside this measure, the package approved by the lower house of the Bundestag includes a general ban on bladed weapons at public events, although an initiative to allow police to access biometric data on the Internet in certain serious investigations, including terrorism cases, was left out.
In addition, the "green light" was given for German authorities to be able to refuse asylum applications from people who have committed crimes "on anti-Semitic, racist, xenophobic, gender-based, sexual orientation-based or other inhumane grounds".
Interior Minister Nancy Faeser welcomed the package of measures: "We are banning bladed weapons at public events and allowing the state to enact broader bans".
However, she regretted that some of the proposals to increase police authority had been blocked, a measure she described as "incomprehensible and irresponsible".
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