German Right-Wing Party Calls for Sending Back All Newly Arrived Migrants

The German right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) party on Monday proposed that all migrants and refugees that have just arrived from North Africa be sent back and placed in asylum centers while their applications are reviewed.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – THe AfD believes that refugees from African states should stay at asylum centers near their countries and that only those who are most vulnerable be accepted into Europe under the EU resettlement program.

“Everyone who illegally entered the European Union after September 1, 2017 as an asylum seeker – especially through the Mediterranean Sea – [should] be placed in new asylum centers opened in North Africa during their asylum [application] proceedings,” the party's statement said, as quoted by the Welt media outlet.

The document said that the German Navy, along with Italian and Libyan forces, should put an end to migration via the Mediterranean Sea.

According to recent polls, the AfD is supported by up to 10 percent of voters ahead of the September 24 parliamentary election.

The European Union has been facing a massive influx of migrants and refugees fleeing from war and poverty in African and Middle Eastern countries. In 2015, about one million migrants and refugees arrived in Germany. Since the beginning of 2017, over 119,000 migrants and refugees have come to Europe with a vast majority having arrived in Italy from Libya, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).