Reports about long waiting times for asylum seekers in a sparsely equipped application center in Klagenfurt caused a stir on Tuesday. An asylum seeker would have been stuck in the hallway for days. The waiting time there is currently up to three days, says a spokesperson for the Ministry of the Interior. However, the Federal Ministry of the Interior sees the need for the states to hire a total of 5,600 people for basic care.
According to a helper who contacted Ö1, the situation in the registration center in Klagenfurt is precarious: there are no showers on site, the hall is cold and dirty. According to the BMI, asylum seekers would be registered in the federal states to relieve Burgenland in particular. After an initial questioning by the police, they are then assigned to a federal care facility. And with admission to the asylum procedure, responsibility is transferred to the federal states and those affected are included in the basic care of the federal states.
“These are not shelters for asylum seekers”
This is where it gets problematic: “There are currently more than 8,000 people in federal primary care, but 5,600 of them are already in the process and should be taken over by the states. As a result, the system has now reached the limits of its resilience,” said a BMI spokesperson. Due to the large number of new applicants every day, it has become necessary to set up “waiting areas” at the registration offices, which are managed by the departments of the state police: “These are not accommodations for asylum seekers,” said the ministry. At the moment, reception on site is provided by the Red Cross or social institutions.
“The countries’ lack of acceptance,” it said, would therefore affect the length of the stay, which could last several hours, but currently also “one to three days”. There is no information on how many asylum seekers are currently in such a waiting area “because of the dynamic and often rapidly changing situation”.
Locations of other districts not yet mentioned
Carinthia’s refugee officer Sara Schaar (SPÖ) promised the ORF more shelters without naming specific locations. “Of course we will, and we will, open quarters. But that is a bottomless pit and we just can’t make it this way anymore,” says Schaar. The provincial councilor calls for border controls in Burgenland to be suspended and refugees to be smuggled via Austria to the actual destination countries.
Source: Krone
I am Ida Scott, a journalist and content author with a passion for uncovering the truth. I have been writing professionally for Today Times Live since 2020 and specialize in political news. My career began when I was just 17; I had already developed a knack for research and an eye for detail which made me stand out from my peers.
