Linke on migration and integration

The Left wants to give immigrants quicker access to the labor market, above all through easier recognition of qualifications and work experience. It defends the right to asylum as a humanitarian duty and sees immigration as an opportunity for Saxony. In its view, public concerns can only be reduced through faster integration.

The Left wants to protect the right to asylum. Immigrants should be allowed to work sooner. Degrees from other countries should count more quickly. The immigration offices should help people with this.

The platform argues that many hospitals and craft businesses could already not operate without immigration. Saxony is to press in the Bundesrat for recognition partnerships to be opened to refugees as well. There are to be more labor market mentors with stronger specialization. The party regards the immigration offices as the biggest obstacle and wants them to become agencies that enable employment. Foreign employees and cross-border commuters are to get more multilingual advice about their rights.

The Left wants permanent support for German as a second language at every school. In its view, language support ends too early when children move from preparatory classes into regular classes.

Immigrant children should get help learning German at every school. The help should not stop after one or two years. This needs well-trained teachers. Schools should get lasting funding and materials.

The platform says it takes five to six years to become secure in academic language, while preparatory classes usually last only one to two years. Well-trained teachers for this subject are named as the key condition, and the platform says there are too few of them. Schools would receive permanent resources and suitable teaching materials.

The Left wants to support young people with a migration background before and during their apprenticeship, including on residency questions. It rejects deportations on principle. The platform sees this as a matter of fairness and a way to counter the labor shortage.

Young immigrants should get help with their apprenticeship. They should also get help with residency law. The Left is against deportations on principle. Foreign qualifications should be accepted faster.

Companies would get reliable contact points for advice and more legal certainty. The Left considers additional training necessary, especially German courses. Labor market mentors would be upgraded and given specialist expertise. Qualifications would be recognized more quickly and easily. In the party's view, protection and prospects for people in work improve integration.

The Left wants refugees to live in their own apartments as a rule, rather than in shared accommodation, and to choose freely where they live. It seeks a fundamental shift in Saxony's asylum policy and wants to support family reunification through state admission programs.

The Left wants refugees to live in their own apartments. No one should have to live in a shared shelter. Refugees should choose where they live. Families should be able to join them more easily.

The Left rejects residence restrictions that tie refugees to a particular place. State admission programs are to make it easier for relatives to follow. Unaccompanied minors are to be received and cared for in line with the best interests of the child. Welcome centers and meeting places are to be set up in every county and independent city.

The Left calls for a right-to-stay drive: authorities should use their discretion so that people with only a tolerated status can remain, and refugees should receive a residence permit after three years in Saxony. Detention pending deportation is to be abolished because, in the party's view, fleeing is not a crime.

The Left wants more refugees to be allowed to stay. Anyone who has lived in Saxony for three years should get a residence permit. No one should be locked up before a deportation. Immigration offices should be friendlier and simpler.

Immigration offices are to be turned into "welcome offices" with simpler, digital procedures. All agencies and institutions of the state are to hire more staff with a migration background and receive advice on doing so. Discretionary powers are to be used in favor of people with tolerated status.

The Left wants to give refugees a health insurance card with full coverage from day one and end their less favorable treatment under the Asylum Seekers' Benefits Act. It considers Saxony's existing integration law inadequate and calls for an integration and participation law.

The Left wants refugees to get a health card right away. They should get the same benefits as other people on welfare. Saxony should get a new law on participation. The state should pay for integration.

Uniform statewide standards are to apply to social work with refugees, including one state-funded social worker per 50 people seeking protection. The participation law is to make integration a mandatory task of municipalities, paid for by the state. It is also to provide permanent funding for migrant self-organizations, asylum and career counseling, counseling for queer immigrants, psychosocial counseling and interpreting services. Payment cards for refugees are to be designed without discrimination and in line with data protection rules.

The Left wants to dissolve the EU border agency Frontex because, according to the platform, it violates refugees' human rights. Saxony is to push for the EU to guarantee the right to asylum, and the party opposes border checks within the Schengen area.

The Left wants to dissolve Frontex. Frontex is the border agency of the European Union. The party says Frontex violates the rights of refugees. The EU should secure the right to asylum. There should be no border checks between EU countries.

The state is to press at the federal and European level for the EU to guarantee the right to asylum. The Left rejects checks at borders inside the Schengen area. It describes its goal as an open Europe.