What do the parties in Saxony-Anhalt say on migration and integration?

The AfD wants to grant people facing political persecution and war refugees only temporary protection. Anyone who commits a crime would have to leave the country immediately. Skilled workers could immigrate according to the state's own needs, but should primarily be trained at home.

Persecuted people and war refugees should get protection. But the protection should last only for a limited time. Anyone who commits a crime should have to leave right away. Skilled workers should mostly come from within the country.

The AfD wants to use the Bundesrat to push for much tougher checks at Germany's borders. Anyone who enters without permission and, in the party's view, has no right to file an asylum claim should be turned back without exception. The platform frames this as a return to applying existing law.

The AfD wants more checks at Germany's borders. Some people enter without permission. The AfD says many of them may not ask for asylum. These people should always be turned back at the border. The AfD wants to push for this in the Bundesrat. That is the chamber of the German states.

An AfD state government would refuse to take in people in Saxony-Anhalt who entered without authorization via a safe third country or whose identity is unclear. The state would also withdraw from voluntary admission programs and decline to accept Afghan local staff. The platform argues these people have no entitlement and that capacity is exhausted.

The AfD does not want Saxony-Anhalt to take in certain people. This applies to people who came without permission through a safe country. It also applies to people whose identity is unclear. The state should leave voluntary admission programs. It should also not take in Afghans who once worked for German agencies.

The AfD wants to end church asylum in Saxony-Anhalt, arguing that it violates existing law and blocks deportations. The people concerned would be deported as quickly as possible. The party also wants to have criminal proceedings and financial liability for church congregations examined.

Some churches shelter people who have to leave Germany. This is called church asylum. The AfD wants to end it in Saxony-Anhalt. People in church asylum should be deported quickly. The AfD wants to check if churches are breaking criminal law. It also wants to check if churches must pay the costs.

The AfD wants to use the Bundesrat to abolish the constitutional right to asylum and replace it with a discretionary grant by the state. The state would decide according to its own political interest who receives asylum.

Today the right to asylum is in Germany's constitution. The AfD wants to remove this right. Instead, the state should decide freely who gets asylum. Nobody would have a fixed claim to it. The AfD wants to achieve this through the Bundesrat.

The AfD wants refugees to find shelter in countries neighboring their homeland rather than travel on to Germany. Aid would be provided only there, with the federal government giving the UN refugee agency sufficient funds. The platform considers this more sensible economically and socially than admitting people.

The AfD wants to help refugees only near their home countries. They should find shelter in neighboring countries. They should not come to Germany. The federal government should give money to the UN refugee agency for this. The AfD thinks this is better and cheaper.

The AfD wants stops at three levels: municipalities could obtain a ban on refugees moving in upon request, and the state would stop admitting anyone in an emergency. At the federal level, the party wants an admission stop for non-EU nationals until further notice. The platform justifies this with exhausted capacity.

The AfD says towns and cities cannot take in more people. Towns should be able to ask for a ban on refugees moving in. In an emergency, the whole state should take in nobody. The AfD also wants a stop for all of Germany. It would apply to people from countries outside the EU.

The AfD wants to equip all registration offices with document-checking devices and verify every passport presented by asylum applicants. For unaccompanied minor foreigners, age would be determined through mandatory medical examinations. The party says this would uncover deception it considers widespread.

The AfD wants to always check if asylum seekers' passports are real. All registration offices should get devices for this. Some young people say they are under 18. Doctors should examine how old they are. This exam should be required.

The AfD wants to house asylum seekers in central group facilities rather than in apartments. The sites should not be in city centers, in order to avoid conflict. The party sees asylum as temporary hospitality that ends with a return home.

The AfD wants asylum seekers to live in large shared facilities. They should not live in separate apartments. The facilities should not be in city centers. The AfD says asylum is only for a limited time. After that, people should go back to their home country.

The AfD wants cash, credit cards and other assets carried by asylum seekers to be recorded and confiscated on arrival. The money would help pay for housing and food. The platform justifies this as a way to save taxpayer money.

The AfD wants to take cash and valuables from asylum seekers when they arrive. The state would use this to pay for housing and food. Later, officials would check their assets again. The AfD says this saves tax money.

The AfD wants to require asylum seekers in the state's initial reception centers to do community work. Benefits would be provided in kind rather than in cash, and money transfers abroad would be blocked. The platform says this would remove financial incentives for immigration.

The AfD wants to make asylum seekers do community work. For example, they would clean their shelters. They would get goods instead of cash. They would not be able to send money abroad.

The AfD wants the protection status of all refugees in Saxony-Anhalt reviewed every year and revoked when conditions in the home country improve. Those who travel to their home country, commit crimes or are classed as security threats would lose their status. Through the Bundesrat, subsidiary protection for war and civil war refugees would be abolished altogether.

The AfD wants to check refugees' protection every year. If the home country gets safer, protection should end. People who travel to their home country should lose protection. So should criminals. The AfD wants to fully end the protection status for war refugees.

The AfD wants to end state spending on organizations and projects in the field of asylum and integration and stop funding a culture of welcome. The money saved would go to the native population. The platform regards current integration policy as bound to fail.

The AfD wants to stop state money for integration projects. Projects for a welcoming culture would end too. The money would go to local people instead. The AfD says integration policy does not work.

The AfD wants to prevent people from other EU countries from moving to Saxony-Anhalt because of social benefits. Those affected would be pushed to return to the EU country they came from. In the platform's view, the German welfare state attracts this immigration and causes conflicts.

Some poor people from EU countries move to Saxony-Anhalt. The AfD says they come for welfare benefits. The AfD wants to stop this. These people should go back to the EU country they came from.

The AfD wants naturalization in Saxony-Anhalt handled as strictly as possible and permanently denied to criminals. In the Bundesrat it wants to roll back the previous federal coalition's naturalization reform and replace citizenship by place of birth with citizenship by descent. Serious criminals with dual citizenship would normally lose their German one.

The AfD wants to make it harder to become German. Criminals should never get a German passport. Children of foreigners born in Germany would no longer become German by birth. Serious criminals with two passports would lose the German one.

The AfD rejects integrating illegal immigrants into the labor market and recruiting skilled workers from other cultural backgrounds. Shortages would instead be addressed through mechanization, digitalization and artificial intelligence, and in the long run through more births and less emigration. In the platform's view, immigration worsens the skills shortage and carries security risks.

The AfD does not want to recruit skilled workers from foreign cultures. It does not want to bring illegal immigrants into jobs. Machines, computers and AI should replace missing workers. AI means artificial intelligence. The AfD also wants more children to be born.

The AfD wants a state program to bring back German skilled workers who have moved abroad. It would offer help finding housing and daycare, plus a bonus payment. Skilled workers from other German states are also meant to move to Saxony-Anhalt.

Many German skilled workers live abroad. The AfD wants to bring them back. The state would help them find a home and daycare. People who return and work for two years get money.

The AfD wants to deport far more people from Saxony-Anhalt who are required to leave, and to spend 100 million euros on it. The state would organize its own deportation flights, set up a "Task Force Abschiebungen" (deportation task force), and push local immigration offices toward a stricter course.

The AfD wants to deport many more people. These are people who must leave Germany. The state would organize its own flights for this. A new working group would speed up deportations. Criminals would be deported especially fast.

The AfD wants to withdraw public funding from institutions, initiatives, and associations that help rejected asylum seekers avoid deportation. Individuals who actively help would face strict punishment.

Some groups help people who are about to be deported. The AfD wants to stop giving these groups state money. People who actively block a deportation would be punished.

The AfD wants to use every legally available form of deportation detention and sharply increase the number of detention places in the state. To do so, it would temporarily suspend the separation of prison and deportation detention and look into converting the Stendal reception center.

The AfD wants to detain more people before they are deported. The state needs more detention places for this. The reception center in Stendal might become a deportation detention center. Regular prisons would also be used for a time.

The AfD wants to set up a staff office for remigration and appoint a remigration commissioner. Money now earmarked for integration guides would instead pay for remigration guides.

The AfD wants a new office for remigration. For the AfD, remigration means people going back to their home country. The money for integration guides would end. Instead there would be remigration guides.

The AfD wants to use the Bundesrat to make German development aid depend on whether a country takes back its citizens. The initiative would also push for stricter controls at the EU's and Germany's borders.

Germany pays development aid to other countries. The AfD wants to attach a condition. Countries that take back their citizens would get more money. Countries that do not would get less.

The AfD wants authorities in Saxony-Anhalt to make full use of every existing option to cut benefits for people required to leave. The aim is to raise the pressure on them to leave Germany.

Some people must leave Germany. The AfD wants to give them less money and help. The law already allows such cuts today. All offices in the state would use them. That way, more people would leave.

The AfD wants Ukrainians to stop receiving Bürgergeld (citizen's income) and instead get the lower benefits paid to asylum seekers. It also wants to prepare the return of Ukrainians living in Saxony-Anhalt and to stop recognizing them across the board as war refugees.

Ukrainians in Germany get Bürgergeld, a basic income benefit. The AfD wants to change that. Ukrainians would only get the benefits for asylum seekers. That is less money. The AfD also wants to prepare their return to Ukraine.

The AfD wants to create a state-run program that encourages migrants without legal residence to leave voluntarily. The aim is a sharp rise in the number of such departures. Municipalities would get support for their own return initiatives.

The AfD wants a return program for Saxony-Anhalt. It should get people without legal residence to leave on their own. Many more people should leave this way. Towns and cities should also get help with this.

The AfD wants to raise the bar for naturalization: an essay would replace the current multiple-choice test, and a new declaration would require a commitment to Germany. In addition, waiting periods for naturalization would depend on a person's own integration efforts rather than length of residence alone.

The AfD wants to make it harder to become a citizen. People should write an essay instead of taking a multiple-choice test. The essay also tests language skills. New citizens should commit to Germany. People who integrate well should become citizens faster. Others have to wait longer.

The AfD wants to make courses on German history and culture mandatory for all foreigners who are lawfully and permanently resident. Anyone absent without excuse could, in the most serious case, lose their residence permit. The platform considers the current courses too narrowly focused on the constitution.

The AfD wants required courses for foreigners. The courses should teach German history and culture. All foreigners who live here legally and long-term must take part. People who miss class without a reason should face penalties. They can even lose their right to stay.

The AfD wants to push at the federal level for foreigners to be expelled as a rule once sentenced to at least one year in prison. Foreigners deemed prone to violence would be monitored as a priority, deported and detained until then; at least 300 deportation detention places would be created.

The AfD wants to expel foreigners sentenced to at least one year in prison. For this, federal law would have to change. Foreigners who are ready to use violence should be watched closely. They should stay in detention until they are deported. The state should create 300 places for deportation detention.

The AfD wants Saxony-Anhalt itself to sign agreements with countries of origin so that they take back citizens who are required to leave Germany. According to the platform, deportations of rejected asylum seekers currently fail partly because those countries do not cooperate.

Some people are not allowed to stay in Germany. The AfD wants them to leave. Saxony-Anhalt should sign its own agreements with other countries. Those countries should take their citizens back.

The AfD wants naturalizations to be handled by a central state agency rather than by the immigration offices of municipalities and counties. The aim is for the same standard to apply everywhere in the state.

Today, local offices in cities and counties decide on naturalization. Naturalization means a person becomes a German citizen. The AfD wants just one office for the whole state. That way the same rules should apply everywhere.

The AfD wants to end irregular immigration to Saxony-Anhalt and not admit people as "climate refugees." It adds an ecological argument: those who come to Germany raise their standard of living and with it their use of resources.

The AfD does not want to take in people who flee because of the climate. It wants to end immigration without permission to Saxony-Anhalt. The AfD also gives a reason from environmental protection. It says these people use more resources in Germany than before.

The AfD wants to prevent more migrants from being placed in rural municipalities as part of decentralized accommodation. Instead, they are to be housed as far as possible in a small number of central reception facilities in the state.

The AfD wants no new housing for asylum seekers in villages. Municipalities should not be assigned fixed numbers of migrants. Migrants should live in a few large facilities in the state.

The BSW commits to the right to asylum and to taking in people entitled to protection, but wants unregulated and illegal migration ended immediately. People with no claim to protection, those who abuse the asylum system and those who commit crimes are to be deported consistently. The party justifies this with the limited capacity of municipalities and social systems.

The BSW wants to keep the right to asylum. But people should no longer enter without permission. People with no right to asylum should have to leave. The same goes for people who commit crimes. The party says towns and schools are overloaded otherwise.

The BSW considers targeted recruitment of foreign workers necessary but wants it handled by the state rather than private agencies. Skilled workers needed in their home countries are not to be recruited away. Priority is to go to education, training and qualification at home.

Saxony-Anhalt lacks workers. So the BSW wants to bring in skilled people from abroad. The state should organize this, not private firms. Other countries should not lose skilled people they need. But first, people at home should get good training.

The BSW wants recognition of foreign vocational qualifications to become much faster and simpler. Missing partial qualifications are to be made up while working. The party sees integration into the labor market as the key to public acceptance of immigration.

Many immigrants learned a job abroad. The BSW wants to recognize these qualifications faster. If something is missing, people should learn it while working. That way, immigrants find work sooner.

The BSW wants to reverse the cut in language course funding at the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees and expand language training instead. Job-related courses at B2 level in particular are to increase significantly. The party regards good language skills as a precondition for skilled work and participation.

The federal government spends less on language courses. The BSW thinks that is a mistake. The party wants more language courses, especially for work. People who speak German well find good jobs more easily.

The BSW wants to protect people with tolerated status from deportation if they hold jobs subject to social insurance, pay taxes or are in vocational training. In the party's view, those who contribute should get a reliable prospect of staying.

Some people may stay in Germany only for now. They are called tolerated persons. The BSW wants this: those who work or train may stay. These people should be able to plan safely.

The BSW calls for mandatory language and civics courses for all immigrants who do not speak German. It also wants German tests before school entry, more early support for children from immigrant families and compulsory kindergarten attendance from age four. The party sees integration as a joint undertaking with clear rules.

Immigrants who speak no German should have to take courses. There they learn German and something about politics. Children should take a German test before school. From age four, children should have to go to kindergarten.

The BSW wants immigrants and their children distributed more evenly across city districts, schools and kindergartens in order, as it sees it, to prevent parallel societies. This includes a cap on housing occupancy per district, a quota of at most 30 percent foreign children and the end of fixed elementary school districts. The federal government is to cover accommodation costs.

The BSW wants immigrants to live in all parts of a city. Not too many immigrants should live in one district. In kindergartens, at most 30 percent of children should be foreign. Fixed elementary school districts should end. The federal government should pay for housing.

The CDU wants to continue and tighten the federal government's course on limiting migration. The goal is to bring irregular migration down to zero; admission programs are to end and family reunification for people with subsidiary protection is to stay suspended.

The CDU wants fewer people to come to the country without permission. In the end, that number should be zero. Voluntary admission programs should end. Some refugees should still not be allowed to bring their families. Asylum cases should be handled at the EU border.

The CDU wants to deport people who are required to leave if they do not go voluntarily and calls on the federal government to enable deportations to Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq. Syria and Iraq are to be declared safe countries of origin through an initiative in the Bundesrat (the chamber of the states).

People with no right to stay should leave the country. The CDU wants to deport them if they do not leave by themselves. This should also apply to Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq. Syria and Iraq should count as safe countries. Then asylum cases move faster.

The CDU says foreigners who work, integrate, support themselves and share the country's values are welcome. It rejects xenophobia and blanket suspicion; at the same time, society's capacity to integrate newcomers is to set the limit for immigration.

The CDU says: People who work and fit in are welcome. The CDU rejects hatred of foreigners. People from other countries work in many businesses and hospitals. But only as many should come as the country can take in well.

The Greens want Saxony-Anhalt to actively support protection programs for at-risk women and queer people from Iran and Afghanistan. State admission programs are to be continued permanently. Protection should also cover people affected by transnational repression.

Women and queer people are in danger in Iran and Afghanistan. The Greens want Saxony-Anhalt to support programs that protect them. The state should keep its own admission programs for good. People who are persecuted here by a foreign state should also get protection.

The Greens want compulsory schooling to apply immediately to all children with a migration background and want them placed in regular classes quickly. To that end, there would be more teachers of German as a second language.

Immigrant children should go to school right away. They should join normal classes quickly. There should be more teachers for German. Parents should get information in their own language.

The Greens want newcomers to get information, counseling and opportunities to participate from day one, and plan municipal or regional arrival centers across the state. The platform treats immigration as a necessity and an enrichment; it is to be actively managed in order to attract skilled workers.

The Greens want to welcome new immigrants well. They should get information and advice from the start. There should be arrival centers everywhere. These offer all key help in one place. The Greens say the state needs immigration for skilled workers.

The Greens want procedures at immigration offices, job centers, social welfare offices and reception facilities to be faster, digital and better coordinated. Immigration offices are to be better equipped and developed into migration centers that support integration.

The Greens want faster procedures for newcomers. Offices should work digitally and coordinate better. Immigration offices should get more resources. They should help people integrate.

The Greens want newcomers to be able to attend language courses from their first day, regardless of recognition or pending administrative procedures. The state is to guarantee reliable language instruction everywhere; attendance is to be mandatory and enforced if necessary.

The Greens want language courses from the first day. Nobody should have to wait for an office decision first. The state should offer courses everywhere. Everyone must attend the courses.

The Greens want to give newcomers access to jobs, internships, training and recognition counseling as early as possible. Recognition of foreign vocational qualifications is to become faster and more digital. The platform sees work as the strongest driver of integration.

The Greens want newcomers to be allowed to work early. They should quickly get jobs, internships and advice. Degrees from abroad should be recognized faster. The Greens say work helps integration the most.

The Greens call for abolishing the Bezahlkarte (payment card for asylum seekers), which the platform regards as discriminatory. Social benefits are to be paid out as cash to everyone alike.

The Greens want to abolish the payment card. Today refugees often get their benefits on this card. The Greens think this is unfair. Everyone should get their benefits as money.

The Greens want long-term funding for associations, initiatives, migrant organizations, sponsorship programs and volunteers working on integration, and want them built into local plans. Newcomers are to get early access to sports, culture, volunteering and civic education.

The Greens want to fund clubs and groups that help newcomers. The money should be secure for a long time. Newcomers should be able to join sports and culture early. Guides should support them.

The Greens want to set up a one-stop agency for international skilled workers, staff in shortage occupations and founders. It is meant to bundle official procedures and keep international talent in the state long term.

The Greens want one central office for skilled workers from abroad. They get all help in one place there. They should find work and learn German more easily. This should make them stay in the state for a long time.

The Left wants queer refugees who apply for asylum to be granted it. Permanently funded counseling services are to be created for them and for trans, intersex, and nonbinary people, and women and queer people should be able to live outside reception centers.

The Left wants to protect queer refugees. Anyone who is queer and seeks asylum should get it. There should be more counseling for these people. Women and queer people should be able to live in their own apartments.

The Left wants to support students, especially those from abroad, from the start of their studies to their first job in Saxony-Anhalt. Help with language, recognition of qualifications, and residence status is meant to lead them to stay as skilled workers after graduating.

The Left wants to welcome students from other countries. They should get help with language and residence permits. The state should support them until their first job. That way they stay in Saxony-Anhalt after their studies.

The Left considers labor migration necessary because of demographic change and wants to make it fair. Temporary agency work, contracts for work, and subcontractors would be monitored more strictly, foreign vocational qualifications recognized faster, and exploitation punished more severely.

The Left says Saxony-Anhalt needs workers from abroad. These people should be paid fairly. The state should check temp work and subcontractors more strictly. Foreign job qualifications should be recognized faster. There should be advice centers for these workers.

The Left calls for abolishing Frontex, the European border protection agency. It places the demand in the context of a united, democratic and social Europe.

Frontex is the EU agency that guards the outer borders. The Left wants to abolish this agency. It wants a social and democratic Europe.

The Left sees immigration as an opportunity to counter population decline and labor shortages. It wants to reform the state's reception law (Aufnahmegesetz) and set up an integration budget for municipalities. Dealings with authorities would be bundled in one-stop shops.

Fewer and fewer people live in Saxony-Anhalt. So the Left sees immigration as a chance. Towns and cities should get money for integration. Immigrants should be able to handle everything at one office.

The Left wants to give all immigrants immediate access to language courses, whatever their residence status. Foreign vocational qualifications would be recognized within six months. Welcome centers would connect municipalities, initiatives and authorities.

All immigrants should be able to learn German right away. This applies to every age and every residence status. Job qualifications from abroad should be recognized within six months. Courses should also exist in rural areas.

The Left wants to abolish the Bezahlkarte (payment card) for refugees, which it considers discriminatory. It would be replaced by a mandatory basic bank account so that those affected can manage their own money.

Refugees today often get benefits on a payment card. The Left thinks this is unfair. It wants to abolish the card. Instead, people should get their own bank account.

The Left wants public authorities and institutions to lead by example on integration. People with a migration background would be given priority in public-sector hiring, and staff would receive intercultural training.

The Left wants more diversity in public offices and schools. The state should hire more people with a migration background. Staff should get courses on other cultures and languages. There should also be more teachers with a migration background.

The Left wants children from immigrant families to receive language support as early as daycare so that they start school without a deficit. This is to be complemented by mentoring programs, parental involvement and curricula that reflect cultural diversity. The platform justifies this with equal starting chances for children who will stay in the state permanently.

The Left wants to help children from immigrant families early. They should learn German well in daycare. Parents should take part. Mentors should guide people who are new in the country.

The Left wants to launch a state program that brings together immigrants, authorities and employers to help people take up work. Work permits are to be issued more easily and foreign qualifications aligned through bridging courses. The platform attributes high unemployment among people with foreign passports to structural discrimination.

The Left wants to make it easier for immigrants to find work. The state should start a new program for this. Work permits should be easier to get. Skilled workers from abroad should be able to take a one-year course.

The Left declares the right to asylum, protection from deportation and family reunification to be untouchable. It sides with people seeking protection, arguing that flight results from coercion and a lack of alternatives. In its view, migration policy should not be guided by people's economic usefulness.

The Left wants to protect the right to asylum. Refugees should be safe from deportation. Families should be allowed to live together. The party says: No one flees without need.

The SPD sees Saxony-Anhalt as dependent on skilled workers from Europe and beyond and wants an open skilled-labor policy. For the party this includes a welcoming culture in workplaces, schools, volunteer groups and municipalities.

Saxony-Anhalt does not have enough skilled workers. So the SPD wants to bring in workers from other countries. These people should feel welcome in the state. They should be able to become part of society.

The SPD says Saxony-Anhalt depends on immigration because of its shortage of skilled workers and labor. Immigrants are to learn the language quickly, have their qualifications recognized and be allowed to work; the party rejects work bans.

Saxony-Anhalt does not have enough workers. The SPD says the state needs people from abroad. They should learn German quickly and be allowed to work. The SPD is against work bans. Foreign degrees should be recognized faster.

The SPD sees daycare centers and schools as key places for integration. Immigrant children are not to be taught separately and are to receive equivalent education from the start, including in initial reception centers.

Children from other countries should learn together with everyone else. The SPD does not want separate classes for them. Children in reception centers should also get good schooling. Refugees live there at first. Daycare centers and schools should give more help with learning German.

The SPD wants immigrants who work, study, or are in vocational training to be able to stay. Voluntary return would be supported, and deportations would be only a last resort. At the same time, residence law would be enforced and procedures handled swiftly.

People who work, study, or do job training should be allowed to stay. The SPD wants to support voluntary return. Deportations should only be the last resort. Procedures should be fast and fair.