The leader of the German conservatives Friedrich Merz called for the deportation of Syrian and Afghan migrants who have been found guilty of crimes, BTA reports.
Merz, who is a candidate for chancellor of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) in the February 23 elections, told DPA that the situation in Syria is unstable.
"We in the CDU have long been of the opinion that people from Afghanistan and Syria can and should be deported in principle. We will do this," he said.
According to him, special attention must now be paid to who is allowed to arrive in Europe from Syria.
"I would not under any circumstances like to see members of Bashar al-Assad's militias in Germany who have committed serious crimes in Syria," Merz said.
"The clear message must be that they will be sent to the border immediately," he said, calling for coordination between all European Union member states.
According to authorities, there are currently around 975,000 Syrians living in Germany, most of whom arrived after 2015. More than 300,000 of them have a lower level of protection and were not admitted on the grounds of individual persecution.
Merz said Germany had helped many refugees, but the number in the country had already reached a level where local authorities were overwhelmed.
"We also need a political change in immigration policy," he said.
The CDU proposes that immigration for economic reasons and for asylum reasons be strictly separated, with separate procedures for each, Merz said, calling for changes at the EU level to manage the migration crisis.
According to opinion polls on the eve of the German parliamentary elections on February 23, the CDU is in first place with over 30%, ahead of the far-right "Alternative for Germany", which is expected to receive around 18% of the vote. The Social Democrats of former Chancellor Olaf Scholz follow with about 16% and the "Greens" with 13 percent of the vote.