Legitimate or illegal? – Gottfried Waldhäusl reported for “asylum triage”.

The Russian war of aggression in Ukraine sparked a wave of refugees that has long since spilled over into Lower Austria. Before the start of the war, at the end of February, a total of 2,800 asylum seekers were in basic care in Germany. Nearly three months later, there are 13,500, which corresponds to an increase of more than 380 percent – and which, according to the competent provincial councilor Gottfried Waldhäusl, “brings the Lower Austrian asylum system to its breaking point”.

When the magnitude of the approaching refugee influx could be foreseen, the PVV therefore decided in March to introduce a triage system. It stated that from then on, there had to be room mainly for women and children from Ukraine. According to Waldhäusl, mainly young men from Syria and Afghanistan are housed in the public federal and state quarters.

“Besides a lack of capacity, it is common sense not to house women and children from Ukraine with these asylum seekers,” said an insider. Whether this move was legitimate or illegal will now have to be decided in court.

The law makes no distinction
As the “Krone” learned, Waldhäusl was still reported in March. There is a suspicion of abuse of office. Paragraph 3 of the Basic Law of Lower Austria does not discriminate between asylum seekers on the basis of gender or country of origin. The public prosecutor’s office in St. Pölten is investigating.

As in the process surrounding the asylum rooms in Drasenhofen in the Mistelbach district, the presumption of innocence also applies to Waldhäusl in this case.