During a videotaped debate in a high school, Angela Merkel was confronted with a young Palestinian refugee facing deportation after living for four years in Germany. After Merkel told the girl that "politics is sometimes tough," the girl started crying. The Chancellor then approached the young refugee and stroked her back, trying to comfort her. The number of refugees arriving in Germany rises by the month and already this year the number of asylum applications, is more than twice the total for the whole of 2014. The issue is one of the most keenly debated topics in the country.