SPD on migration and integration

The SPD commits to the individual right to asylum and to fair proceedings under the rule of law. Municipalities are to keep organizing accommodation but receive permanent funding from the state for it. Integration management is to be anchored in law.

The SPD wants to keep the right to asylum. Every refugee should get a fair procedure. Towns and cities house refugees. The state should give them steady money for this.

The platform calls human rights non-negotiable and promises refugees effective legal protection. The state is to agree on permanent funding for integration and accommodation with the municipalities and plan for the long term. For follow-up housing, the SPD demands binding minimum standards, with the state co-financing their implementation.

The SPD wants to build additional, better-equipped state initial reception centers and reorganize the immigration authorities. A state immigration office is to be created for this purpose. People without a right to stay could remain in the reception centers until departure instead of being distributed to municipalities.

The SPD wants to build more reception centers for refugees. They should offer small living groups, counseling and language courses. A new state office should handle immigration. Refugees should find it easier to work and train for a job.

The centers are to offer living groups instead of mass shelters, plus psychosocial counseling, legal advice, interpreters, and cultural, language and leisure activities. They should not be located in remote places without good public transit. Residence restrictions could be eased in individual cases to make work and training easier. More places are to be created for refugees with special protection needs, supported by queer and women's counseling services. A statewide violence protection plan with binding rules is to cover all forms of accommodation.

The SPD wants to consistently enforce the obligation to leave the country, especially for people who have committed serious crimes. At the same time, the state should again follow most recommendations of the Härtefallkommission (hardship commission). Well-integrated people would thereby gain a prospect of a residence permit.

Some people must leave Germany. The SPD wants to enforce this, especially after serious crimes. But well-integrated people should be allowed to stay. A hardship commission looks at such cases. The state should mostly follow its advice again.

Enforcement applies to people who do not leave voluntarily. The SPD supports the work of the hardship commission, which according to the platform examines applicants' cases closely. The state should return to the practice of earlier years, when most recommendations were carried out.

The SPD wants to make it easier for foreign skilled workers to move to the state and to recognize foreign qualifications faster. Integration management, promotion of naturalization and the involvement of clubs are to be expanded. The platform calls Baden-Württemberg a country of immigration and integration important for the economy.

The SPD wants more skilled workers from abroad. Foreign degrees should be recognized faster. The state should promote becoming a citizen. Clubs should get money when they help newcomers settle in.

Statewide campaigns are to explain and promote naturalization procedures, and annual naturalization ceremonies will be supported. Integration management is to be recognized as part of social work and get more staff. In the longer term, a single-stage integration procedure with social counseling from one source is planned for refugees. Heritage-language teaching is to be run by the state rather than by consulates, and Islamic chaplaincy in prisons is to be offered on a binding basis. Clubs would get financial incentives and less red tape for reaching out to newcomers.