CDU on migration and integration

The CDU wants to strengthen the state agency for skilled-worker immigration and pool responsibilities. Foreign qualifications are to be recognized faster where they are equivalent. According to the program, the economy benefits from skilled workers from around the world.

Companies need skilled people from other countries. The CDU wants these people to be able to come faster. Offices should check their qualifications faster. But the qualifications must be good enough.

The existing state agency is to be improved in quality so that procedures run quickly and with less red tape. Pooling responsibilities is meant to make procedures faster and more uniform. In recognizing foreign qualifications, the focus is to be on quality. For tourism and hospitality, the CDU also relies on international initiatives to recruit skilled workers.

The CDU wants to achieve integration mainly through German language skills and employment, and to shift language support into companies and clubs. According to the program, anyone who makes an effort and commits to the Leitkultur (guiding culture) should have every chance to advance.

The CDU wants immigrants to learn German and to work. Language courses should take place in companies and clubs. Immigrants should find it easier to start a business. They should accept the values and language of the country.

The program plans a campaign called "Betriebssprache Deutsch" (German as the workplace language). A mentoring program titled "Vom Gastarbeiter zum Arbeitgeber" (from guest worker to employer) is to connect owners of mid-sized family businesses with founders who have an immigrant background. Companies, clubs and individuals who set an example are to receive awards to make integration success stories visible. The program describes skilled immigration as an opportunity and at the same time requires immigrants to accept the country's values, language and Leitkultur.

The CDU wants to regulate, manage and limit immigration together with the federal government. It backs turning people back at the borders and stronger checks against smugglers.

The CDU wants fewer people to enter the country without rules. It supports turning people back at the border. More checks should stop smugglers. Cross-border commuters should not suffer from this.

The program backs the federal government's policy of turning asylum seekers back at the border when the Dublin rules are being circumvented; these rules determine which EU country is responsible for an asylum case. In the CDU's view, asylum law does not allow people to choose freely which European country takes them in. The party expects this to relieve municipalities and reduce conflicts over new shelters. The interests of cross-border commuters are to be taken into account during checks.

The CDU wants to assign asylum seekers without jobs to community service and pay benefits cashless through the Bezahlkarte (payment card). Organizations that help people get around the card could lose their tax-exempt nonprofit status.

The CDU wants asylum seekers without a job to do community work. They should get their money on a payment card, not in cash. Nobody should get around the card. Groups that help with that should lose tax advantages.

People with prospects of staying are to start work quickly. The work duty provided for in federal law is to be applied in coordination with municipalities; the CDU sees this as more participation and relief for municipalities. The payment card is meant to ensure that benefits are used as the law intends and to make extortion by smugglers harder. Against abuse, the program relies on uniform standards and controls and wants to support the federal government in creating new legal bases.

The CDU wants asylum procedures to be completed in the state's initial reception centers and only people with prospects of staying to be distributed to the counties. It rejects new state admission programs.

The CDU wants asylum cases to be finished in the state's first shelters. Only people who may stay should move on to the counties. The others should go straight back to their home country. The state should not start new admission programs.

The program justifies this with the burden on municipalities and what the CDU sees as declining acceptance of housing asylum seekers. In distribution, cities and towns that have voluntarily declared themselves "Sichere Häfen" (safe harbors) are to be considered first. People without prospects of staying are to be returned directly from the state's facilities. The CDU wants to review and adjust the current standards for accommodation.

The CDU wants to grant a Duldung (temporary suspension of deportation) only where the law strictly requires it, and to create more places in pre-deportation detention. The special unit "Gefährliche Ausländer" (dangerous foreigners) is to grow in staff and organization.

The CDU wants to deport more people who must leave. A Duldung should only be given when the law demands it. A Duldung means deportation is put on hold for now. There should be more places in deportation detention.

To stop people from going into hiding, the CDU wants to cut benefits and make full use of the legal grounds for detention. At the federal level, it wants to push for removing incentives that, in its view, work against voluntary departure. The reform of the Common European Asylum System is to be implemented, including fast procedures at airports and at the state border. The special unit, which identifies foreign criminals and pursues their return, is to be expanded and conclude cooperation agreements.