A far-right party uses a mock plane ticket to campaign for deportations in Germany

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BERLIN (AP) — German police were investigating an election campaign flyer by a far-right party that looks like a plane ticket and calls for the deportation of “illegal immigrants.”

The flyer was published on the website of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party’s local Karlsruhe branch. It’s shaped like a boarding ticket and reads “only remigration can still save Germany.” It’s dated Feb. 23, when Germany holds a general election.

About 30,000 fliers were distributed in the southwestern city, German news agency dpa reported.

Police in Karlsruhe told The Associated Press on Wednesday they have launched a criminal investigation on suspicion of incitement to hatred.

The issue has also gained traction on social media with some users claiming the flyer was deliberately thrown into the mailboxes of migrants. The AfD regional Karlsruhe branch said that the flyer was aimed at all eligible voters, dpa reported.

The mayor of Karlsruhe, Frank Mentrup, said AfD had crossed a red line with the flyer.

Finding “such notes in the letterbox reinforces a feeling of insecurity and fear,” and that should not be part of an election campaign, he told public broadcaster SWR.

Germany’s ailing economy as well as migration are among the top issues concerning voters.

Polls show AfD in second place ahead of the election, with about 20% support. However, the party’s candidate for chancellor, Alice Weidel, who recently held a live chat with Elon Musk after he endorsed AfD on his X platform, has no realistic chance of becoming Germany’s leader as other parties refuse to work with AfD.

While other parties have not called for deportations of migrants in general, a majority of Germans support more and faster deportations of those who don’t receive asylum in Germany. Chancellor Olaf Scholz has vowed several times to step up the deportation of rejected asylum seekers.

The number of irregular border crossings into the European Union fell significantly in 2024, according to the bloc’s border control agency Frontex.

In Germany, the number of people applying for asylum fell sharply last year. The Federal Office for Migration and Refugees says 250,945 people applied for asylum in 2024, down 30.2% from 2023.

Only a year ago, AfD had sought to distance itself from far-right calls for “remigration” of millions of people with immigrant roots that triggered weeks of mass protests. The party now openly lobbies for remigration. At a party convention on the weekend, Weidel called for closing Germany’s borders to undocumented migration and large-scale deportations of asylum seekers, making clear that she has no problem with the politically charged term “remigration.”

Interior Minister Nancy Faeser sharply rejected AfD’s anti-migration sentiment and warned against dividing Germans into first and second class citizens based on their heritage. Almost 25 million people of Germany’s population of 84 million have immigrants roots.

“The fact that the AfD apparently wants to expel people en masse under the term ‘remigration’ shows not only its contempt for humanity, but also how much it would damage Germany as a business location and cost jobs,” Faeser told the daily Rheinische Post on Wednesday.

Germany is facing a massive skilled labor shortage with experts estimating that the country needs about 400,000 skilled immigrants each year as the workforce ages and shrinks. Companies across the country fear that AfD’s anti-foreigner stance will further deter much-needed migrants from moving to Germany for work.

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