AfD on migration and integration

The AfD wants to allow immigration only on the basis of qualifications and need, and to treat asylum purely as temporary protection. People with protection status are to be returned as soon as conditions in their home country allow. The platform argues that Germany is not a country of immigration and that asylum is being misused as a route to permanent settlement.

The AfD wants to keep immigration and asylum apart. Only people with needed skills should immigrate. Asylum should be protection for a limited time. After that, people should go back to their country.

The protection status of Syrians and Afghans is to be reviewed; where the grounds for protection no longer apply, returns are to begin at once, starting with criminal offenders and people classified as security threats. Diplomatic initiatives are meant to open up ways to return to countries of origin. Immigration would be limited to areas of need defined by the state and would require prior proof of language skills, willingness to integrate, and acceptance of a German Leitkultur (guiding culture). Overall, the AfD wants to tightly control and limit immigration in order to prevent what it sees as social disintegration and crime by foreigners.

The AfD demands that Berlin immediately stop taking in asylum seekers and deport everyone who is required to leave. It pursues a policy of remigration that includes deportations, voluntary return, and agreements with other countries. The platform argues that immigration is overwhelming the city and its welfare systems.

The AfD wants Berlin to stop taking in asylum seekers. People who must leave should be deported right away. The AfD calls this remigration. It means deportations and voluntary return.

The platform refers to up to 20,000 people in Berlin who are required to leave and should be deported without delay. There would be no winter pause on deportations, the hardship commission for rejected asylum seekers would be abolished, and the voluntary admission of migrants would end. The Landesamt für Einwanderung (state immigration office) would become an office for immigration, asylum, and remigration, with returns as its priority. Also planned are a Dublin departure center for transfers to the responsible EU countries and a separate Berlin deportation center. Readmission agreements and cooperation with third countries are to be expanded.

The AfD wants asylum seekers to receive only benefits in kind and to eliminate all additional Berlin benefits. Care, counseling, and housing would be limited to the bare essentials. According to the platform, generous benefits and a lack of deportations draw migrants to Berlin.

The AfD does not want to give asylum seekers money anymore. They should only get things like food and clothing. Extra benefits from Berlin should end. The AfD believes fewer people will then come to Berlin.

Counseling on asylum procedures and residence rights would be provided only by government agencies. The anonymous health voucher for people without legal residence would be abolished, as would language and integration courses for asylum seekers with no right to stay. Asylum seekers would be required to do community service work. The costs of asylum policy would be fully disclosed at the state and district level. The AfD also wants to examine and introduce having non-EU nationals serve prison sentences in safe third countries, following the Danish model.

The AfD opposes building more Modulare Unterkünfte für Flüchtlinge (MUF, modular refugee housing) and wants to convert existing ones into apartments for all Berliners. In the platform's view, such buildings encourage ghettos and tie up housing. Asylum seekers should not get preference in housing allocation.

Berlin builds special housing for refugees. The AfD wants no new buildings of this kind. The existing ones should become normal apartments. Asylum seekers should not get apartments before others.

Open spots in existing shelters are to be filled completely first. Rejected asylum seekers and people with little chance of recognition would be housed centrally. Existing capacity in central shelters is to take priority over new construction.

The AfD wants to put all naturalizations in Berlin on hold until the cases handled by the state immigration office since early 2024 have been checked for forgeries and corruption. Citizenship should come only at the end of successful integration. Dual citizens could lose it if convicted of serious crimes.

The AfD wants to stop naturalizations in Berlin for now. Naturalization means getting German citizenship. First the office should check all cases since 2024. It should look for fraud and fake tests. Dual citizens who commit serious crimes should lose their German passport.

Naturalizations obtained unlawfully or through fraud are to be revoked. In the future, every applicant would have to appear in person, and language skills, integration, and loyalty to the constitution would be checked by two officials; the final decision would be made only by a career civil servant. A central, state-supervised body is planned for German language exams. Revocation of citizenship would apply to dual citizens convicted of crimes such as murder, serious sexual offenses, terrorism, or serious drug crime, as well as to people classified as security threats or linked to criminal clans; Berlin is to push for this in the Bundesrat. The AfD also wants to abolish the quota and support requirements of Berlin's Partizipationsgesetz (participation law).

The AfD wants refugee children taught in separate classes, where possible following the curricula of their countries of origin, to support their later return. The platform treats integration as an obligation of immigrants, with penalties for those who refuse. A German Leitkultur (guiding culture) is to be the binding standard for living together.

The AfD wants to teach refugee children in separate classes. They should learn as they would in their home country if possible. That should make returning easier later. People who do not integrate should face penalties.

According to the platform, the school system is not built to take in large numbers of students without sufficient German. Behavior the AfD considers contrary to integration, such as frequent truancy, would be reported to the state immigration office and factor into decisions on residence rights. Integration efforts are to be required on a binding basis. In addition, antisemitism prevention in classroom teaching is to be expanded and firmly established.