On September 1, Saxony and Thuringia will elect new state parliaments. The Alternative for Germany (AfD), a party known for its hostility towards migration and for being in part right-wing extremist, could become the strongest party in both federal states. It is currently polling at around 30%, and the deadly knife attack in Solingen, a city in Germany's most populous state of North Rhine-Westphalia, may very well give the party an additional boost.
For years, the party's calls for a much more restrictive immigration policy have been greeted with approval, especially in eastern German states such as Saxony and Thuringia. The debate over the deportation of criminal refugees has intensified in the wake of the suspected terrorist act committed by Issa Al H., a Syrian asylum seeker whose application for asylum was rejected.
Speaking on public broadcaster ZDF, AfD leader Alice Weidel called for an "immediate ban on immigration, admission, and naturalization for at least five years." Long before the massacre in Solingen, Weidel had spoken in the Bundestag of "subsidized knife men."
There are also calls from within the ranks of the conservative Christian Democratic Party (CDU) for swift and tangible consequences. Shortly after the knife attack in........