German minister proposes up to 10-year prison for child traffickers: reports

BERLIN - Newly-appointed German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer (CSU) wants human traffickers who help minors enter Germany illegally to be punished more severely, newspaper Rheinische Post reported on Thursday.

A recent legislative proposal aims to overhaul some aspects of Germany's asylum policy, which has been debated heatedly since it was first announced by Seehofer on Wednesday.

The document justifies a tougher handling of child traffickers on the grounds that it was "particularly reprehensible" to subject minors under the age of 18 to the risk of illegal migration.

If Seehofer gets his way with the new law, traffickers will face up to ten years in prison for helping unaccompanied minors enter Germany illegally. The minister hopes to prevent refugee families from sending their children to Germany in order to obtain family-reunification rights once their offspring are settled, according to reports.

The proposal includes a revocation of family-reunification for refugees who receive welfare benefits in Germany and the establishment of a fixed cap of 1,000 individuals who can be brought to the country by relatives each month.

The suggestions have provoked a row within Merkel's fourth cabinet, with senior figures in the German Social Democratic Party (SPD) accusing Seehofer of breaking the coalition agreement in an attempt to garner votes for his party in looming regional elections in Bavaria.

"Seehofer appears to be intent on using the interior ministry as a permanent election campaign instrument for the Christian Social Union (CSU)," SPD migration policy spokesperson Aziz Bozkurt told newspaper Welt.

SPD deputy leader Ralf Stegner said the SPD would not "move an inch" beyond the legal parameters established in the coalition agreement underpinning party cooperation in the federal government.