Austria wants to send Syrians home. Refugees and their advocates say it’s too soon [Video]

Lukas Gahleitner-Gertz’s refugee advocacy organization has been fielding a lot of panicked calls from Syrians living in Austria.

That’s because the country has threatened to start sending Syrians back to their home country now that rebels have toppled the regime of Bashar al-Assad.

“Many of them are asking whether they can be deported right away,” Gahleitner-Gertz, a legal expert with Asylkoordination Österreich, told As It Happens host Nil Köksal. 

“We are trying to calm the people down.”

Austria is one of several European countries that have paused asylum applications from Syria until a clearer picture emerges about the country’s political future. 

Canada, which has not seen the same influx as its European counterparts, will continue to process claims as they come, says Immigration Minister Marc Miller.  

Austria vows ‘orderly return and deportation’

Germany, Britain, Italy, Croatia, Norway, Poland and Sweden have also temporarily stopped issuing decisions on asylum claims from Syrians, citing the evolving situation in the war-torn country. France is considering a similar …