The populist Alternative for Germany party (AfD) has proposed that Germany should detain and house migrants without passports in separate accommodation, a proposal that has been met with sharp criticism from the establishment.
Members of the party in the Saxony region have brought forth the idea, but the policy has been slammed by critics on the German establishment left who view the policy as inhumane reports Die Welt.
In the Saxony-Anhalt region, the AfD had one of their strongest electoral showings earlier this year in the regional elections. AFD politician Uwe Wurlitzer, himself a member of the Saxony parliament, said that the group wanted a “separate quartering of all asylum seekers with unclear identities” noting that there are severe security issues with letting in migrants with unknown origins.
The AfD group said they would like to see detention centres set up to protect German people and that the migrants who stayed there would be released when their backgrounds had been confirmed. The group added that the migrants would be taken care of with medical personnel on site and any cultural needs would be met.
Reaction from the establishment opposition was swift and critical. Juliane Nagel of the Left Party said that proposal was using “racist stereotyping” and saying that the proposal showed that the AfD knew nothing of how the asylum procedure actually worked in Germany. Socialist politician Henning Homann also slammed the policy saying that the AfD were like “cold coffee” since the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) had made a similar proposal last year. “The CDU demanded this a year ago and after some
Socialist politician Henning Homann also slammed the policy saying that the AfD were like “cold coffee” since the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) had made a similar proposal last year. “The CDU demanded this a year ago and after some discussion the demand was then rightly rejected as impractical and inhumane,” Homann said.
At the start of the migrant crisis, many of the migrants crossing through the Balkan route into Germany had their passports and identification papers on them, largely to prove they were from Syria. In recent months as the traffic has slowed down, so has the number of migrants with proper documentation.
Migrants without any papers have become the norm for German officials processing asylum claims. The change has meant a huge delay in the processing of the claims as the migrants’ backgrounds are verified.
Some in the European security services and police have warned since the beginning of the migrant crisis that groups like the Islamic State would use the crisis to smuggle in fighters and without documentation many feel it makes the terror group’s job even easier.