Migrants Prefer Germany Because Its Benefits ‘Are Quite High,’ Says Gov’t Minister

Hear that, California?

Vie Breitbart:

German Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière has said that his country’s generous welfare benefits act like a magnet for migrants, and called for a unification of standards throughout the European Union (EU) to better distribute new arrivals.

Since Germany offers migrants and refugees much more than other EU member states, it has become an attractive target for human smugglers, de Maizière said.

De Maizière told the Rheinische Post newspaper Saturday that Germany is the destination of choice for many migrants because in comparison with other European countries, its “procedures and reception conditions are generous” and “the benefits for refugees are quite high.”

“That’s part of the pull-factor to Germany,” he said.

Germany’s magnet effect on migration has taken on other forms as well, de Maizière said. In the summer of 2015, “we were under great pressure to make forecasts about the number of refugees to be expected so that the municipalities could plan,” he said.

When the minister released the figure of 800,000 migrants in August 2015, this sent a “signal” to prospective migrants and traffickers that Germany was willing to take in that many and this, in turn, acted as a “driver” of migration, he added.

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