Merkel sees no legal limit on asylum-seekers

German Chancellor Angela Merkel says there is no legal limit to the number of asylum seekers her country can receive.

Merkel told the Funke consortium of newspapers in an interview published Saturday that “the right to political asylum has no limits on the number of asylum seekers.”

She says that “as a strong, economically healthy country we have the strength to do what is necessary” and ensure every asylum seeker gets a fair hearing.

But Merkel repeated her government’s position that those migrants who stand no realistic chance of getting permission to stay need to be returned to their home country.

Germany has seen tens of thousands of migrants arriving each month, many of them refugees fleeing war and persecution in Syria, Eritrea and elsewhere.

Source: AP