Germany rejects immigrant IQ test proposal

The German government has rejected a proposal from a member of Chancellor Angela Merkel's party to subject potential immigrants to intelligence tests. Peter Trapp, member of Berlin's local assembly for Merkel's conservative Christian Democrats, sais he was in favor of intelligence tests for immigrants. But government spokesperson Christoph Steegmans quickly quashed the idea. All major parties, from the ruling coalition and opposition, distanced themselves from Trapp's comments. A board member of Germany's central bank, Thilo Sarrazin, previously said that immigrants were less intelligent and had lower education levels that threatened to lower Germany's average intelligence. The number of foreigners moving to Germany rose in 2009 after declining for most of the past decade.