Following the closure of NUK Sindelfingen, the AZ Meßstetten is now also being closed as an initial reception facility. We submitted an inquiry to the Regional Council of Tübingen asking whether a successor facility is planned and how future admissions will be handled.
The Regional Council of Tübingen forwarded the inquiry to the Regional Council of Karlsruhe. The response is particularly noteworthy, as it clarifies that state initial reception centers (LEA) generally serve only a “buffer function,” while the city and rural districts are directly responsible for admissions. A referral to state initial reception centers is therefore not permissible and is also not required for refugees from Ukraine.
As already outlined below, Ukrainian refugees are expected to approach the city and rural districts in the state directly; these authorities are immediately responsible for admission. Allocation is carried out in accordance with the generally known general decree. The LEA merely serves as a buffer to prevent homelessness. Outside regular office hours and on weekends, this buffer function is assumed by the regular initial reception facilities. As before, onward referrals from the initial reception facility to the districts then take place. In this respect, no changes arise.
The lower admission authorities and lower immigration authorities have for some time been regularly instructed not to actively and indiscriminately refer newly arriving Ukrainian refugees who express a request for protection pursuant to Section 24 of the German Residence Act (AufenthG) to initial reception centers. This applies all the more if the refugees assert family ties or even access to private housing locally. In such cases, the individuals are promptly referred — or returned — to the competent lower admission authority.