Berlin's local mayors are voicing opposition to the state Senate's decision to construct 16 new container villages to accommodate over 6,000 migrants in the German capital, opting to prioritise housing over new schools.

„The CDU is pursuing a migration policy against its own people,” the right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) party said in a statement. It said the recent decision by the Berlin Senate „is not surprising, given that Mayor Wegner (CDU) has also approved to halt all deportations. The CDU has opted for a policy of mass migration in all federal states. So we get crime, parallel societies and asylum abuse from them”.

1️⃣6️⃣ neue Standorte für Asyl-Container angekündigt. • 6.000+ neue Migranten werden erwartet:

Stimmt ab ➡️ Hat Berlin noch Platz ?

— Alternative Hauptstadtfraktion (@AfDFraktionAGH) March 26, 2024

Berlin’s state legislature recently approved plans to build container villages, but in several places local politicians have already sounded the alarm bell about the strain on already overburdened public services. The proposed shelters, scheduled for completion by 2026, are expected to accommodate up to 6,130 new arrivals, leading critics to argue that state lawmakers are failing to address the issues of mass migration and escalating asylum applications, as reported by the Infowars news site.

Lichtenberg Mayor Martin Schaefer expressed apprehension about the additional burdens on already hard-working districts, including his own, where four new container villages are slated for construction. Speaking to the Berliner Zeitung, the CDU politician voiced concerns about the lack of infrastructure and public service development in line with the growing population. He also criticized the proposed sites, deeming them unsuitable for (refugee) accommodation.

„Without schools, nurseries, midwives, doctors, social and integration services, coexistence cannot be successful. This only encourages radical forces and damages social cohesion,”

– he told the local newspaper.

Allegedly, one of the container villages in Schaefer’s district will be built on land previously earmarked for a school, and the school construction is now cancelled.

„I can no longer explain this to anyone in my district,” the local mayor said.

Emine Demirbuken-Wegner (CDU), another district mayor representinmg Reinickendorf in the north-east, learned about state plans to build more refugee accommodation in her constituency from the press. She said the creation of new migrant centres lacked coordination at state level, adding that the districts were not consulted at all in advance. Reinickendorf also includes Berlin’s Tegel airport, home to the largest refugee village in the German capital, housing more than 13,000 migrants.

„The district office believes that the existing sites cannot be further expanded due to these constraints, as well as the perceived overcrowding resulting from the intercultural population mix,”

– the mayor said.

Last year the German capital spent almost 3 percent of its budget on migrants, totalling €1.1 billion, according to official figures, while the government has told residents that there is no money to renovate schools or improve transport infrastructure.