Grüne on migration and integration

The Greens want to give EU citizens the right to vote in state elections and give long-term residents from non-EU countries the right to vote in local elections. The party also wants to actively promote naturalization and make public institutions more accessible in terms of language.

The Greens want more people to be allowed to vote. People from other EU countries should vote in state elections. People from other countries should vote in their town if they have lived here long. The state should encourage people to become citizens. Public offices should offer more languages and easy-to-read language.

The platform wants to remove barriers that have so far prevented equal political participation. The federal government's planned easing of naturalization and multiple citizenship is to be used to actively promote naturalization. Multilingualism, easy-to-read language, sign language and Braille are to be expanded, especially in public institutions. People with disabilities are also to get easier access to political processes. Voluntary political office is to be open to people regardless of schooling, income or life situation.

The Greens want to set up a state-level admission program for refugees in particular emergencies. It is meant to back the willingness of many NRW municipalities to take people in; in the party's view, European asylum policy should become more humane.

NRW should be able to take in refugees in need itself. The Greens want a state program for this. Many cities in NRW want to help. The state should work with them. The Greens also support rescuing people in distress at sea.

The program is aimed, for example, at people rescued at sea. The state and municipalities are to be able to offer protection together. A special program is to admit Yazidi women from northern Iraq. The Greens support civilian sea rescue and the federal government's plans for state-coordinated, European-backed sea rescue in the Mediterranean. Instead of sealing Europe off, they call for new access routes and easier immigration.

The Greens reject long stays in state-run accommodation and consider the central accommodation facilities (ZUE) a failure. Refugees are to live in smaller, decentralized housing, with better health care and more money for municipalities.

Refugees should not live in large shelters for long. The Greens want small housing units in many places. People have more peace and privacy there. Children from state shelters should go to regular schools. Cities should get more money for taking people in.

Safe spaces are to be created for women, children and queer refugees. New health care standards are meant to help detect illnesses early, and mental health counseling is to be easy to access, especially for girls and women. Children in state accommodation are to be able to attend regular schools. Volunteer work is to be strengthened but must not replace basic state services. Binding standards for shelters are to be developed with the municipalities. The per-person payment under the Refugee Admission Act is to rise and apply equally to asylum seekers and people with tolerated status.

The Greens want to open language courses and integration services to all refugees right away, whatever their status. Immigration offices are to become “welcome authorities” that promote participation and access to the labor market.

All refugees should be able to take language courses right away. This should apply to everyone, whatever their residence status. There should be more childcare during the courses. Immigration offices should help people settle in. They should open ways for tolerated people to stay.

The services are meant to lay the foundation for an independent life. How long children stay in international support classes is to depend on their needs and can be extended. Accompanying childcare is to be expanded so that mothers can also complete the courses. Municipal and central immigration offices are to actively advise and support immigrants. In doing so, they are to make extensive use of their discretion to give people with tolerated status a prospect of staying.

The Greens want deportations to be used only as a last resort and to abolish detention pending deportation in the longer term. They reject on principle deportations to countries at war or in crisis such as Afghanistan and Syria.

The Greens want deportations only as a last step. Detention before deportation should end in the future. Until then, milder measures should be used. No one should be deported to war countries like Afghanistan or Syria. Asylum procedures should be faster and fair.

The Greens want to press the federal government to keep existing obstacles to deportation in place. Especially vulnerable groups such as Sinti and Roma, queer people and women at risk of violence are not to be deported to unjust regimes or war zones. Asylum procedures are to be faster while remaining fair and transparent, with requirements that can realistically be met. Deportation detention is seen as a serious restriction of the rights of people who have done nothing wrong.