THE FAMILY FEUD
Staif and Ayla Haddad, together with their two young daughters, set off from Damascus, Syria, to Istanbul in May 2015.
The journey began with a taxi to Beirut, where they boarded a flight to Turkey. Their plan was for Staif to continue on to Germany and seek asylum. His wife and children would travel back to Syria and wait for him to send for them. At the time, Germany was granting refugee status to the vast majority of new Syrian arrivals and, crucially, also allowing them to send for their immediate families. The trip was a send-off as well as a vacation. One morning, after just over a week in Istanbul, Staif kissed his 4-year-old daughter, Layla, goodbye. His 6-year-old, Rana, was still asleep. As he prepared to leave, Ayla wept. Staif told her that he would see her soon—next year, at the latest. (The family’s names have been changed for safety reasons.)
Staif traveled first to Düsseldorf, in western Germany. In Syria, he had studied electrical engineering and later worked as a technical manager for a cell-phone operator, so he was thrilled to see office buildings emblazoned with the names of German engineering companies he recognized. He was sure he would find a position at one. The German government assigned Staif to live in Berlin, where, that summer, he began the process of filing for asylum. By then, his family had returned to Syria, where conditions were worsening. Then, in August 2015, German Chancellor Angela Merkel fully opened German borders to asylum-seekers, insisting, “We can do it.” In the months that followed, thousands of new refugees arrived, lengthening processing times for asylum claims and souring public opinion.
In the winter of 2015, Staif moved into a hostel
