BREAKING NEWS

German right-wing opposition party wants borders shut to asylum seekers

BERLIN - The right-wing opposition Alternative for Germany (AfD) party said on Monday Germany should shut its borders to asylum-seekers who want to enter via safe third countries, as well as reinstate border controls to stem a record influx of refugees.
Germany, Europe's biggest and richest economy with relatively liberal asylum laws and generous benefits, expects around 800,000 asylum seekers to arrive this year - equivalent to around one percent of its population and by far the most of any EU state affected by the migrant wave this year.
The AfD, which is hovering between 3 and 4.5 percent in opinion polls, issued a proposed program that stipulates: "The right to apply for asylum in Germany should be revoked."
To "bring the asylum chaos under control", the AfD proposal said asylum seekers would have to apply in German embassies in their countries of origin or to EU or U.N. institutions. If war or other circumstances made that impossible, they would have to go to a German embassy in a neighboring country.
Any attempts to apply for asylum at German borders should be rejected and the people concerned refused entry, the AfD said.