AfD on migration and integration

The AfD wants to steer where migrants settle, following the Danish model. It holds immigration partly responsible for the housing shortage and demands that German citizens also gain access to affordable housing.

Lower Saxony lacks housing, and rents are rising. The AfD says immigration makes the problem bigger. It wants to steer where migrants move, as Denmark does. German citizens should find an affordable home more easily.

According to the program, one in five households in the state already spends more than 40 percent of its net income on rent. The AfD sees families, single parents and pensioners being pushed out of certain neighborhoods. It criticizes municipalities for renting housing for refugees partly above the usual rent level, which it says drives up prices. Those most affected, it says, are people looking for housing who earn their income through work.

The AfD wants to stop granting full social benefits to foreigners who are required to leave the country and give them only in-kind benefits. It also wants to limit immigration of EU citizens into the welfare system.

Some foreigners have to leave Germany. The AfD wants them to get no more money from the state. They should only get things like food and clothes. People from EU countries should also find it harder to get welfare.

According to the platform, more and more people required to leave are staying in Germany, with their departure deliberately delayed by legal appeals while they continue to draw full benefits. Social benefits should no longer be transferred to accounts abroad. Immigration from other EU countries into the German welfare system should be restricted.

The AfD calls for ending current immigration policy and states that Germany and Lower Saxony are not countries of immigration. It justifies this with protecting national identity and with costs for the welfare system.

The AfD wants to stop immigration. It says Germany is not a country of immigration. The AfD sees German identity in danger. It also says many immigrants live on welfare.

In the program's view, current policy violates the mandate of the Basic Law and endangers Germany's identity. The AfD cites more than 18 million people with a migration background and expects at least 35 million by 2050 at the same pace. It disputes that immigration solves the shortage of skilled workers and says much of it goes into the welfare system. For Lower Saxony, it puts the yearly cost of irregular immigration at about two billion euros.

The AfD wants permanent controls at Germany's borders to prevent unauthorized entry. It considers admitting asylum seekers who arrive via safe third countries to be unconstitutional.

The AfD wants constant checks at German borders. This should stop people from entering without permission. The AfD says people who come through a safe country have no right to asylum. Germany should fully control immigration again.

The program cites Article 16a(2) of the Basic Law and Section 18 of the Asylum Act. On this reading, anyone entering from an EU country or a safe third country has no right to asylum and must be refused entry. The AfD regards the admissions since 2015/2016 and the asylum procedures for these people as a breach of German and European law. Its top goal is for Germany to fully control immigration again.

The AfD wants to consistently deport people without a right to stay and also return recognized asylum seekers once conditions in their home country ease. Detention pending deportation would last until departure, and cash benefits and integration programs for this group would end.

The AfD wants to deport more people. People with no right to stay should leave. They should get no more money. They should stay in detention until they leave. Recognized refugees should also go home later.

The program calls Lower Saxony's deportation practice lax and sees asylum as temporary protection. People required to leave would stay in detention until departure. All cash payments to people without a valid residence title would stop, and integration measures for them would end. German authorities would issue substitute documents where papers are missing, and foreign policy pressure should make returns possible. The AfD wants to abolish the hardship commission; refugee aid should mainly be provided in the crisis regions.

The AfD wants to reduce incentives for immigration that it sees in benefits for asylum seekers. It wants to change the rule that recognized asylum seekers are immediately treated equally in all welfare systems without having paid in.

The AfD thinks benefits for asylum seekers are too high. It says this draws people to Germany. Recognized refugees get all welfare benefits right away. The AfD wants to change that.

According to the program, benefits in Germany and Lower Saxony are disproportionately high by international comparison. It says this creates a pull effect that costs many people their lives on the journey. The AfD criticizes Lower Saxony for making entry via airports and rail routes easier. It says immediate equal treatment after recognition burdens the state and municipalities and should be ended politically.