Germany’s AfD vows to expel all migrants without legal status if it wins eastern region

Far-right party, which is leading rival conservatives in polls, says it aims to shift school curricula away from what it deems an excessive focus on Nazi-era guilt

MAGDEBURG, Germany — Germany’s far-right AfD party on Saturday unveiled a manifesto for its first 100 days in office if it wins control of an eastern region, pledging to immediately expel all undocumented immigrants.

The Alternative for Germany has a lead of nearly 20 points over the mainstream conservatives in opinion polls in the state of Saxony-Anhalt, which votes for its government in September.

In an address to delegates in the city of Magdeburg, AfD candidate Ulrich Siegmund set out the first 10 measures he promised to implement once in office, following the September 6 vote.

The 35-year-old said he would expel all irregular migrants from the state “from the very first minute.”

“We will use all available leeway, including detention pending deportation, to send back as many as possible,” and oblige asylum seekers to carry out community service or risk having their benefits cut, he said.

If the anti-immigration, pro-Russia, and pro-Donald Trump AfD wins, it would be the first far-right party to govern a German federal region since the end of World War II.

It has surged in popularity in recent years of economic turbulence, in line with far-right parties elsewhere in Europe.

Siegmund said the party would defend a traditional family model, made up of “a man, a woman and children from that couple.”

He vowed to ban the LGBTQ+ rainbow flag in schools and ensure instead that the national flag be flown in public establishments.

In the longer term, he aimed to change history curricula in schools, which he said were too focused on Germany’s Nazi-era guilt.

He said that “to prevent young people from leaving rural areas,” the AfD would offer a 1,500-euro ($1,700) subsidy to finance driving licenses for apprentices.