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Merkel’s Party Marks Limit on Its Acceptance of Refugees

A migrant sleeps in a stairwell between decks onboard a Blue Star ferry during a ten hour journey from the island of Kos to the Greek mainland port of Piraeus on Tuesday. Government data showed 413,000 refugees arrived in Germany this year through August.

A migrant sleeps in a stairwell between decks onboard a Blue Star ferry during a ten hour journey from the island of Kos to the Greek mainland port of Piraeus on Tuesday. Government data showed 413,000 refugees arrived in Germany this year through August.

Photographer: Win McNamee/Getty Images
Patrick Donahue and Arne Delfs
Updated on

Lawmakers in German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s bloc laid down a marker against surging refugee numbers, saying economic migrants aren’t welcome.

“Economic distress is no grounds for asylum,” Merkel’s Christian Democratic-led caucus in the lower house said in a policy statement presented in Berlin on Wednesday. “We don’t want migration into the social-welfare system.”