The Alternative for Germany (AfD) party's parliamentary group in Bavaria is proposing the creation of a new law enforcement agency, which it would call the "Asylum Search and Deportation Group" (Asyl-, Fahndungs- und Abschiebegruppe - AFA).
In a party position paper that was shared with Taz, the party said the specialised unit would be "similar to ICE in the US".
In the US, emboldened by President Donald Trump, ICE agents have engaged in increasingly brutal tactics that many legal experts say are unconstitutional, including the recent killing of two American citizens in Minneapolis.
The AfD's Bavarian chapter would like to see the proposed AFA agency significantly increase the number of deportations in Germany through "focused work".
If that "focused work" were to resemble the tactics deployed by ICE in the US, that would effectively mean masked, unidentifiable and often heavily armed agents on the streets on Germany making widespread arrests, targeting kids at schools and immigrants visiting the immigration offices, entering homes without warrants and jailing people in deplorable conditions.
According to a report by BR24, Katrin Ebner-Steiner, chairwoman of the AfD's Bavarian chapter, has suggested that exactly how the AFA would operate should only be made clear after the AfD gains power in the state government.
The Local sent an inquiry to the AfD's national press contact to ask if the party aims to create an agency modelled after ICE at the national level. The party did not respond.
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The AfD's group in the southern 'Free State' also advocates for the state purchasing its own deportation planes, as well as measures intended to make life more uncomfortable for asylum seekers like scrapping cash benefits and creating an evening curfew.
Taz reported that the party's position is that extreme measures should be taken to deport people who are obliged to leave the country as well as people "who had obtained the German passport by fraud". This is not the first time that members of the far-right party have hinted at their desire to also deport German citizens they disagree with.
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If the AfD had its way it would also scrap three state ministries in Bavaria: Environmental and Consumer Protection, Science and the Arts, and the Digital Ministry.
Municipal elections
To seriously implement any of the above mentioned policies, the AfD would need to wield significantly more power in Bavaria's state government than it currently has.
The party is escalating its hard-line tone against immigration ahead of municipal and district elections set to take place in Bavaria on March 8th. Nearly 40,000 city representatives are to be elected, including many city mayors and municipal council members.
According to BR24, the far-right party is expected to make gains in city and district councils here.
Shaping the debate
While the far-right is not currently in a position to command direct control over the state of Bavaria, it is arguably already succeeding in shaping political debate here.
Bavarian Prime Minister, and leader of the conservative Christian Social Union (CSU) party, Markus Söder has increasingly led his party towards a hard-line stance on immigration in an purported attempt to undermine the right-wing platform.
At the top of the CSU's agenda for this year is a planned "deportation offensive", a proposal which appears to have borrowed language directly from the AfD.
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But these efforts by both Bavaria's CSU, as well as by Germany's CDU, it's national counterpart, have so far appeared to strengthen the far-right whilst also alienating some of the conservative's voter base.