Linke on migration and integration

The Left wants to expand counseling and support for foreign workers, who according to the platform are exploited especially often. Foreign vocational qualifications are to be recognized faster, and refugees are to gain easier access to jobs.

Many workers from abroad are taken advantage of at work. The Left wants more advice services for them. Job qualifications from abroad should be accepted faster. Refugees should be able to work more easily. There should be more language classes alongside work.

In addition to the BEMA counseling center, contact points would be set up in the districts, along with outreach counseling in migrant communities. Language courses alongside work would also teach the basics of labor law. Chambers of commerce and trades would recognize qualifications more quickly, including through easier proof by practical exam; the state health office LaGeSo would speed up recognition for health professions and offer enough adaptation courses. Agencies such as trade licensing offices would be made more aware of bogus self-employment and labor exploitation. Criminal labor exploitation would be prosecuted more vigorously.

The Left wants immigrant and refugee children to be able to attend school from their first day in Berlin. More Willkommensklassen (welcome classes) are to be created for this. The party rejects teaching these children separately inside shared refugee housing.

Some children are new in Berlin. The Left wants them to go to school right away. For this, there should be more welcome classes. These are classes for children who are still learning German. The Left does not want lessons inside refugee housing.

School rooms now used for other purposes would be freed up for welcome classes; in an emergency, these classes could temporarily be somewhat larger. From the start there should be contact with regular classes and the prospect of moving into them soon. Districts would manage this transition better. A larger lottery share in admission to lower secondary school is meant to reduce disadvantage. The party rejects fixed age limits for welcome classes.

The Left wants refugee children and teenagers to have the same legal standing as other young people. They are to get immediate, low-bureaucracy access to psychosocial help and trauma therapy. The platform argues that help today often arrives only once a crisis has become acute.

The Left wants equal rights for refugee children and teenagers. They should get mental health support quickly. This includes therapy after terrible experiences. There should be enough places to live for refugee children without parents.

The party calls for early, easy-to-reach access to services such as psychosocial centers and to trauma therapy. According to the platform, this applies especially to young people who have experienced flight or discrimination. Residential child-rearing support facilities are to keep places in reserve for unaccompanied refugee minors. The number of places is to reflect the unpredictable global political situation.

The Left wants everyone in Berlin to receive social services, health care, and housing, even without valid papers. A Berlin city ID card would make this possible and turn Berlin into a place of refuge within the Solidarity Cities network.

Some people in Berlin have no valid papers. They cannot get health insurance. The Left wants them to be able to see a doctor and have a place to stay. A Berlin city ID card should make this possible.

The party accuses the current Senate of failing to act on the commitments of the Solidarity Cities network and wants to change that. Berlin would use its powers as a federal state for this, regardless of the policies of future federal governments. The city card would also open up access to language courses and cultural life. A commission would work out the implementation. Counseling services for people from the EU would also be strengthened.

The Left wants to enable more naturalizations and end the backlog of pending applications. To do so, the state should use its legal leeway and allow applications to be filed offline as well.

The Left wants more people to get a German passport. Many applications are still waiting. That should stop. People should also be able to apply on paper.

The state is to make full use of discretion as well as exception and hardship rules so that more people can become citizens. The State Office for Immigration is to be made more sensitive to discrimination. Besides the online application, there should be a non-digital route for accessibility reasons. Counseling at the Welcome Center is to be expanded, especially with more staff for naturalization law. The party also wants to ensure that naturalization is not used as a means of pressure against politically active people.

The Left wants to add a fixed quota to the Partizipationsgesetz (participation act) so that people with a migration background are hired and promoted more often in the public sector. The stated reason is that the administration does not reflect Berlin's population.

Few people with a migration background work in Berlin's public offices. The Left wants to change that. There should be a fixed quota. A quota is a required share.

According to the platform, more than 40 percent of Berliners have a migration background, yet they are underrepresented in the administration. The quota would apply where candidates are equally qualified and the group is underrepresented. Support plans under the participation act are to be monitored and evaluated. Modeled on the women's representatives, there would be dedicated representatives for employees with a migration background, with powers, staff and funding. The state advisory council on participation is to become more independent and gain access to files and information rights; district councils are also to be strengthened through uniform standards.

The Left wants to push at the federal level for repealing the Asylbewerberleistungsgesetz (Asylum Seekers' Benefits Act) so that refugees receive the same basic support as everyone else. The payment card is not to be introduced in Berlin, or is to be withdrawn.

Refugees now get less money than other people in need. The Left wants to change that. Everyone should get the same help. The Left does not want the payment card for refugees.

The party regards the Asylum Seekers' Benefits Act as a special law that should be repealed at the federal level. Single people in shared accommodation should receive the full standard rate instead of the lower rate for partners. EU citizens who are not employed should be able to receive social assistance. The platform calls the payment card discriminatory.

The Left rejects deportations in principle and wants to legalize people without secure status through a cutoff-date rule. Berlin is to use all of its own legal options for this, including temporary deportation freezes.

The Left does not want deportations. People without secure status should be allowed to stay. A new federal law should make this possible. Berlin should pause deportations for a time.

At the federal level, the party seeks a cutoff-date rule for nationwide legalization and a broader Chancenaufenthaltsrecht (opportunity residence right) to end repeated short-term toleration. It rejects detention, restrictions on movement and the separation of families. Victims of far-right violence and hate crime should be allowed to stay, as should Roma from non-EU countries under a humanitarian rule justified by Germany's historical responsibility. Women who have experienced violence should more easily get a residence permit independent of marriage. Through the Bundesrat, residence status is to be decoupled from the employment contract.

The Left wants Berlin to take in people from war and crisis regions through its own admission programs, above all especially vulnerable people and relatives of Berliners. This is meant to live up to the city's claim to be a "safe harbor."

Berlin should take in people from war zones. The city should have its own programs for this. Relatives of Berliners should be able to come. People in great danger should also get in safely.

The platform names Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq, Sudan, Lebanon and Gaza. The programs are meant to offer a safe route to Berlin. Authorities are to interpret requirements on income, passports and language skills generously, and likewise for family reunification. Applicants should not have to go back and complete a visa procedure when that would be unreasonable.

The Left wants to take the State Office for Immigration out from under the supervision of the interior department. In the platform's view, the current setup encourages a security-focused view of flight and migration, which should be replaced by a humanitarian and social-policy approach.

The immigration office now belongs to the interior department. That department mainly deals with security. The Left wants to change this. The office should focus more on help and social needs.

The hardship commission is to get more staff and work in a way that lets as many people as possible stay; its members are to be trained on discrimination. The procedural guidelines on residence in Berlin (VAB), which the office uses to apply residence law, are to be revised. Refugee organizations, their support networks and the participation councils are to be involved.

The Left wants refugees to be able to work and take up vocational training regardless of their residence status. The Ausbildungsduldung (toleration during training) is to be extended to further activities so that people have time to choose a career.

Refugees should be allowed to work and train for a job. Their residence status should not matter. A language course or internship should also protect them from deportation. There should be more free language courses.

The toleration status would in future also apply during internships, language courses, further training or part-time work. Free language courses, especially job-related ones, are to be expanded and improved. The work of integration guides is to remain secured. Every district should offer counseling on asylum, residence and naturalization law, along with a citywide interpreting structure. Counseling is also meant to keep people from ending up in exploitative work through dubious recruiters.

The Left wants refugees to receive the same medical care as everyone else in Berlin and their children to attend regular schools. Especially vulnerable people are to be identified and supported from the start.

Refugees should be able to see a doctor like everyone else. Their children should go to normal schools. The Left rejects separate schools only for refugees. People at special risk should get help right away.

Health care should not depend on residence status, neither in emergencies nor for chronic illness, and should not fail because of unclear responsibilities. The clearing office for people outside the regular system is to be strengthened, and the psychosocial centers are to get permanent funding over time. Especially vulnerable people should be identified from day one; authorities are to involve the specialist units of the relevant Berlin network and accept their certificates. Early childhood education should also be open to refugee children. Youth work and school social work against racism and digital violence are to be expanded.

The Left wants to found a state enterprise for social housing and write minimum standards for shelters for refugees and homeless people into law. The obligation to live in a shelter during the asylum procedure is to be dropped.

A new city-owned operator should create shelters. A law should say how good shelters must be at least. Every district should provide places. Asylum seekers should no longer have to live in a shelter.

The state enterprise is to provide shelters and housing for refugees and homeless people, making business harder for profit-oriented private operators. The accommodation law is to cover standards for space and staffing, bonuses for districts per person housed, and rules for emergency accommodation. All districts must provide land or buildings; otherwise the Senate sets the number of places. Vacant hotels, hostels and offices are to be used temporarily, and residents' cost contributions are to be capped. Also planned are more social work and psychological support, protection plans for children and against violence, barrier-free places and priority for apartment-style shelters.

The Left wants shelters for refugees and homeless people to be awarded mainly on quality and to operators that do not work for profit. In the long run, a public social enterprise is to bring accommodation under municipal control. The federal government is to share the costs through a per-person flat payment.

The Left wants better shelters for refugees and homeless people. The operators should not be out to make a profit. Later the city should run the shelters itself. The federal government should pay money for each person.

The independent complaints office, which so far covers shelters run by the State Office for Refugee Affairs, is to cover the district shelters for homeless people as well. Shelter staff are to be paid according to collective agreements and given permanent jobs; the party says it will push for an industry-wide collective agreement. A social enterprise is to be built together with welfare organizations such as the LIGA. The platform justifies the federal payment by saying Germany is legally obliged to take people in and that states and municipalities must not bear the costs alone.