No One Wants Us again , Refugees cries out in Germany

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"No country wants us legally," says Mohammad, 41, in a shopping plaza in the eastern German city of Dresden. "My family is in Syria and I wanted to bring them here, but it's been almost a year and I still have no information."

In the meantime, he adds, his four children, all under the age of 7, need a father to protect them if they are going survive a war zone. Like many parents in Germany, he says if he can't bring them here, he will have to go back.

Earlier this year, the German parliament passed laws that will mean asylum seekers like Mohammad — a victim of the Syrian war, but not "personally persecuted" — will have to wait two years to even apply to bring their families to Europe.

On the road to Germany in September, the former auto mechanic spent six hours in the sea when his first rubber boat collapsed. The next day, his new boat made it to Greece and he spent thousands of dollars getting to Germany. Like many travelers at the time, the goal was to get to a safe place, and then send for his more vulnerable family members; like the toddlers he didn't want to make the sometimes deadly journey.

While this plan appears to have failed, Mohammad says returning to Syria may not be a good answer, as borders with Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey — the three countries that are bearing the bulk of the Syrian refugee crisis — are virtually shuttered to new refugees.

The International Organization for Migration says roughly half of the 70,000 asylum seekers that it helped return to their home countries in 2015 came from Germany, with Iraqis making up one of the largest groups of both arrivals and departures. Refugees say these numbers are low, because many other people have left without applying for help.