Linke on migration and integration

The Left wants to end deportations to war zones, explicitly including Syria, Afghanistan and Iran. It calls for legal and safe escape routes and a state admission program of its own for Afghanistan. It calls the fundamental right to asylum non-negotiable.

The Left wants no deportations to war zones. That includes Syria, Afghanistan and Iran. People should be able to flee safely and legally. The state should take in people from Afghanistan itself.

Deportations that endanger lives are to end, especially for unaccompanied minors, and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child is to apply without restriction. The Left wants to support civilian sea rescue. Refugees in vocational training or qualification programs would get a binding prospect of staying. A fund would support municipalities that voluntarily take in refugees.

The Left wants to give priority to decentralized housing for refugees and require protection plans with independent complaint offices in existing shelters. Integration is to be a task for every policy area. The party describes integration as a two-way process.

Refugees should live in apartments rather than big shelters where possible. Shelters should have fixed rules for protection. Refugees should be able to complain there. They should learn German early and be allowed to work.

The protection plans are meant to improve safety, privacy, accessibility and family rights. Municipalities would get help providing housing, and refugees' self-help organizations would be strengthened. Psychosocial services are to grow, especially in initial reception centers. Under integration, the platform lists counseling, access to the job market without sanctions, health care, early language support, and culture and sports. The office of the integration commissioner is to be made permanent.

The Left wants to abolish the payment card for refugees in its current form. The cap on cash withdrawals is to go, and bank transfers are to be allowed. Refugees should be able to take part in financial transactions on equal terms.

Refugees today get a payment card instead of cash. The Left does not want this card as it is now. Refugees should be able to withdraw as much cash as they want. They should also be able to transfer money.

The demand targets the way the card (Bezahlkarte) is currently designed. The limit on cash withdrawals is to be lifted. Bank transfers are to be permitted so that those affected can use financial services like everyone else.