Angela Merkel Brings Young Refugee Girl To Tears Over Immigration Policy

In an unfortunate moment caught on video, Germany’s Chancellor, Angela Merkel, brings a young girl to tears in response to a question about German immigration policies discussed at a recent school visitation in Rostock.

As reported by Politico, Reem, a Palestinian refugee whose family has been living in Germany for four years awaiting permanent residency, spoke to Merkel during the visit, telling the Chancellor about how she had “goals” like everyone else living in Germany and wanted to attend university, but she now faces deportation along with the rest of her family. The video, posted by BBC News, shows the Chancellor trying to explain the policy, which brings Reem to tears.

Though Merkel does make an effort to comfort the upset teen, her detractors were quick to jump on the awkward encounter, going so far as to call the Chancellor an “Ice Queen” in regards to both her handling of the Greek bailout and Reem Sahwil emotional outburst.

The Washington Post reports that while Angela Merkel’s image is one that is “emotionally awkward,” many came to her defense Friday, citing the criticisms of her encounter were rooted in age-old distrust of Nazi-era Germany that still looms today. She is also taking heat for “strong arming” Greece into accepting the austerity measures under the new terms for the bank bailout. But is Merkel really a political bully who makes children cry and laughs off economic crisis? In a word, no.

Olaf Boehnke, a political analyst, has been rather vocal about how some of the media has twisted the deal reached with Greece and the refugee encounter into a throwback from the days of WWII, when the world viewed the Germans as people who lived by rules and nothing else.

“They reinforced the image of the cold chancellor who eats Greeks for breakfast and then can’t show any warmth toward a young Palestinian girl,” said Boehnke, who heads the Berlin office of the European Council on Foreign Relations.

On Friday, Angela spoke to the German Parliament in support of the Greek bailout, asking for lawmakers to imagine what Germany would look like with “desperate retirees [that] had to queue in front of closed banks and wait to get a pension of 120 euros a week.” Approving the bailout would mean that Germany would be on the hook for future loans to Greece, not an easy concession to get through Parliament.

While immigration is a hot topic for most countries, Germany is seeing an incredible amount of refugees, mostly from Syria and the Balkans, applying for citizenship. In 2015 alone, over 179,037 asylum applications were submitted, more than double than the previous year within the same time frame, and far more than any other European country. However, the new reforms being passed by Parliament are making it easier for well integrated refugees to stay in Germany. The question is how to handle the influx of asylum seekers without creating political casualties out of those who now call Germany home.

Officials from Reem Sahwil’s town of Rostock have stated that it is quite unlikely that she, or her family, will face deportation.

Reem has also spoken out in support of her encounter with Chancellor Merkel, telling ARD television, “She listened to me, and she also told me what she thinks about it, and I think that’s OK.”

A more detailed account of Merkel’s response to the Greek referendum can be found here.

[Image courtesy of the CBC]