SPD on migration and integration

The SPD stands by the right to asylum but welcomes the stepped-up federal police checks at the Polish border. It calls for swift implementation of the European asylum compromise and for migration agreements that enable returns and open up legal labor migration.

The SPD wants to keep protecting people in need. But it supports more checks at the border with Poland. Germany should make deals with other countries. Then people with no right to stay can go back. Others may come to work.

Cooperation with Polish security authorities in the border area is to be expanded to act jointly against smugglers. In the SPD's view, securing the border remains a job for the federal police; the state police can only help temporarily. The agreements are meant to secure returns while opening routes to come for work, with no social benefits at first. The program cites the agreement with Albania as a model.

The SPD wants to introduce a payment card for asylum seekers as quickly as possible. All benefits under the Asylum Seekers' Benefits Act would be paid through it. This is meant to relieve municipalities and rule out transfers abroad.

Asylum seekers should get a payment card. Their state benefits go onto the card. They cannot send money abroad with it. Local offices should have less work this way.

The card is to replace the current analog payout process and make administration more digital. Because transfers abroad are not possible, the program says no money could reach smugglers this way. The SPD pledges to comply with the requirements set by the Federal Constitutional Court.

The SPD wants to get refugees and asylum seekers into work or training as early as possible because, in its view, this builds acceptance of immigration and eases the burden on social funds. A new state integration law is to bundle benefits and obligations under the principle of “support and demand.”

Refugees should start working or training quickly. They should not have to wait long for language classes. They can learn German alongside work. A new law should set out the rights and duties of immigrants.

Internships and work opportunities should be possible even during the asylum procedure; language courses can run alongside work. People whose cases have been pending for years should get into jobs through training and qualification. The state reception law is to be folded into a new integration law that also pools funding from the federal government, the state and the EU. The integration budget, migration social work and the advice office of the integration commissioner are to continue. Municipal integration structures will be funded if municipalities present their own plans; digital translation and interpreting services are to be made permanent.