Release date
Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany party (Bavaria) is proposing the creation of a specialized police force modeled on the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service to track asylum seekers and coordinate deportations, according to an internal document.
At a press conference after the Bavarian state organization’s winter conference, AfD parliamentary group leader Katrin Ebner Steiner initially avoided questions about the model.
Although Ebner-Steiner explained that the force’s organizational structure was still open, the fact that the concept paper envisaged a direction “similar to ICE” only became known after the document was subsequently released to the press following repeated requests.
ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) has been heavily criticized for its increasingly harsh approach to arrests, deportations, and other operations.
Recently, several incidents have generated attention and protests.
On Saturday, 37-year-old nurse Alex Preti was shot to death by ICE agents seconds after being sprayed with a chemical irritant and thrown onto the icy ground.
Renee Good, also 37, was killed by an immigration officer on January 7 as she sat in her car. The Trump administration has excluded local investigators from investigating her death.
Another ICE operation in Minnesota sparked demonstrations when federal agents detained a 5-year-old boy and his father.
In another incident, a detained man reportedly died after being strangled in custody.
Curfew for asylum seekers
Beyond the deportation sector, the Bavarian AfD’s position paper calls for compulsory social service and a curfew for all asylum seekers, which Ebnersteiner said would “improve public safety.”
The party also proposes removing immigrant children who are struggling with the German language from mainstream schools and placing them in separate institutions.
According to state lawmaker Markus Walbrunn, religious education for these students will be replaced with “cultural and values education” to prevent “lack of discipline and violence in schools.”
The Bavarian AfD has been classified as a suspected right-wing extremist organization by the state’s Office for Constitutional Protection since 2022, and this designation was upheld by the Munich Administrative Court in June 2024.
The Court found sufficient evidence of efforts contrary to the fundamental order of Germany’s liberal democracy, particularly with regard to human dignity and democratic principles.
Authorities cited the party’s national identity, ethno-cultural understanding of anti-foreign and anti-Muslim positions, occasional anti-Semitism, systematic contempt for state institutions, and calls for “immigration”, including for German nationals with immigrant backgrounds.
Several AfD officials in Bavaria maintain ties to the right-wing extremist Identity movement and its leader Martin Sellner, with representatives from several parties publicly promoting Sellner’s immigration initiatives and attending networking events.
Individual AfD members of parliament are currently under surveillance, including state lawmaker René Dierkes, who authorities see as a “hinge” between the AfD and the far-right for possible anti-constitutional activities.
The party has challenged the surveillance through legal proceedings, which are still pending.
In the 2025 German federal elections, the AfD won around 19% of the vote, making it the second strongest party in Bavaria, double its result in 2021. The Christian Social Union, led by Markus Söder, maintained its lead with 37.2%.
