A Syrian couple who named their daughter after German Chancellor Angela Merkel had their asylum applications rejected.
Tema and Mamon Al-Hamza arrived in Germany in the fall of 2015 and gave birth to a baby girl Dec. 27. The couple felt such gratitude toward the chancellor’s open-door refugee policy that they named their daughter Angela Merkel Al-Hamza.
Germany has since tightened its immigration laws and made it harder for refugees to get asylum. The Al-Hamzas recently received a letter saying their applications had been denied and that they eventually will have to leave the country.
“The letter made me very scared,” Mamon Al-Hamza told German broadcaster N-tv.
In the meanwhile, the family has been granted “subsidiary protection” for one year. This status protects people from deportation if they face the threat of torture, death, inhumane or degrading treatment upon their return home.
The family can also try to sue the government for rejecting them, which more than 17,000 refugees have done in 2016 alone. (RELATED: Thousands Of Migrants Win Lawsuits Against Germany Over Immigration Status)
Recent figures suggest the chance of winning a lawsuit over immigration status is about 90 percent, as administrative courts find it reasonable to grant full protection under the Geneva convention.
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