Chemnitz/Dresden (dpa/sn) – With an online petition, the refugee council is mobilizing against the imminent deportation of a father who has been living in Saxony for 35 years. Pham Phi Son came to Germany from Vietnam in 1987 as a contract worker, it says. Now the Chemnitz native is threatened with deportation because he was in Vietnam for more than six months in 2016 for medical treatment. The country’s hardship commission has rejected a right to stay, so that deportation is now threatened.
“The procedure is a scandal because it threatens a fully integrated family that has enough job offers to support itself,” says the petition launched on Friday. On Saturday morning she already had well over 5000 supporters.
Chemnitz migration officer Etelka Kobuß recently described the case on Facebook as scandalous and inhuman. She knows the family and can say with certainty that she is integrated. “After more than 30 years, Mr. Pham is just as much a de facto resident as his daughter, who was born in Germany and is now 5 years old, is,” wrote Kobuß.
According to Saxony’s Commissioner for Foreigners Geert Mackenroth, the Hardship Commission dealt with the case in 2019 and rejected the request. As chairman, he had rejected a new application this year. Such is excluded “if the factual or legal situation has not changed significantly in favor of the person concerned,” he also explained on Facebook. “I ask for your understanding that a more detailed explanation of the reasons is opposed to aspects of the privacy and data protection of those affected.” The further procedure is in the hands of the responsible authorities. The highest authority for this is the Ministry of the Interior.
