Defying reality, Germany’s labor minister claims that the migrants flooding into Germany are “not arriving for the welfare” — that is, they are not coming to take advantage of all the benefits that the generous German welfare state lavishes on migrants, but to find employment opportunities unavailable at home, or to flee from civil strife. But many of these migrants, who are overwhelmingly Muslim, choose to go to Germany because of its lavish welfare benefits, and once they come to Germany, they are in no hurry to be employed; they prefer to live on the government-provided benefits, which include free or greatly subsidized housing, free medical care, free education, family allowances, monthly stipends, and more. Nor is there any explanation from the labor minister as to why these immigrants choose to come to Germany, since she claims that they are “not arriving for the welfare,” rather than moving to another Muslim country if there is strife in their own. The only reason is that Germany provides a cornucopia of benefits; those Muslim states do not.
More on the labor minister’s claim can be found here: “‘Nobody Comes for Welfare’: German Minister Faces Reality Check,” by Zoltán Kottász, European Conservative, May 8, 2026:
Germany’s labour minister has been accused of denying reality after insisting “nobody immigrates into our social welfare system” despite government data showing foreigners are heavily overrepresented among welfare claimants.
The controversy erupted during a government question session on Wednesday, May 6th, when right-wing AfD MP René Springer asked why the government was not cutting spending “where it is obvious: immigration into our social systems” as Germany struggles with rising welfare costs and mounting budget pressure.
The welfare costs in Germany are rising pari passu with the increase in the migrant population. An estimated 30 billion euros are now spent each year on the migrant population. It’s a colossal sum.
Labour Minister Bärbel Bas dismissed the claim outright, arguing instead that immigration was helping to address labour shortages.
“We have a shortage of skilled workers in this country,” the minister from the Social Democrats (SPD) said, adding that many companies were reliant on foreign workers. She also took a swipe at Springer, suggesting he was unfamiliar with the needs of businesses across Germany.
And how many of those Muslim migrants are skilled workers? The labor minister speaks of migrants filling the need for “skilled workers,” but those arriving from Muslim countries are not only lacking in marketable skills, making them fit only for menial labor, but are unable to function in German. Few take advantage of the language tuition made available to them, or the vocational training they are offered. They arrived intending to live off the benefits the German government provides, and if they need more than that, some turn to crime — to street robberies, house burglaries, shoplifting, and drug trafficking. Muslims make up 6.5% of the population in Germany, but 22% of the country’s prisoners.
However, critics from across the political spectrum accused the minister of ignoring her own department’s statistics.
According to figures from the Federal Employment Agency, nearly half of Germany’s 5.3 million Bürgergeld recipients are foreign nationals. Including German citizens with a migration background pushes the figure above 63%.
Syrians, Ukrainians, Afghans, and Turks make up the largest groups claiming the benefit, with roughly 430,000 Syrians who arrived since 2015 still dependent on welfare.
Additional figures show that roughly 460,000 migrants were receiving support under Germany’s asylum seeker benefits system at the end of 2024….
Many of those asylum seekers have arrived in Germany from Syria since 2015, when Chancellor Angela Merkel opened wide the gates of Germany to a million migrants, when the civil war was going on. But with the end of that war, there is no reason for them to remain in Germany. Why are they not being forcibly deported? And why are Turks being given asylum? There is no domestic strife in Turkey. As for the Afghans, why are those fleeing the Taliban takeover being admitted to Germany? Would it not make more sense for them to move to Pakistan, another Sunni Muslim country next door to Afghanistan, where they would fit right in without the slightest friction?
Germany now spends more than 30 billion euros a year on its immigrant population. No wonder the government has had to cut support for old-age pensioners and the disabled. Every euro spent on an able-bodied migrant who is not working but soaking the system is a euro less available to spend on the truly needy Germans.
The anti-Muslim-immigrant party, Alternative für Deutschland, has pulled ahead of all the other parties in opinion polls. The people of Germany want a halt to that Muslim immigration, and only the AfD has the determination to enforce such a prohibition.
When one adds up the amounts provided to migrants for housing, healthcare, family allowances, and those Bürgergeld monthly payments of 563 euros ($665) to each migrant, a family of four receives each year the equivalent of more than $50,000, a colossal sum.
Meanwhile Sahra Wagenknecht said Bas had “lost all connection with reality.” The leader of the left-wing nationalist BSW argued that the growing number of foreign nationals claiming welfare was undermining confidence in the welfare state and damaging incentives to work.
The BSW party is both left-wing and, at the same time, opposes the extravagant sums spent on the migrants. This shows that the anti-migrant platform of the “right-wing” AfD is shared by some on the left as well, who see reducing the number of Muslim migrants less as a matter of protecting Germany from demographic conquest, and more as a matter of maintaining economic support for the elderly and infirm instead of spending so much on migrants. And imagine what that opposition would be like if Germans were to learn that the Muslims they have been admitting into their countries are instructed by their holy book, the Qur’an, that Muslims are “the best of peoples,” while non-Muslims are “the most vile of created beings.” Why would anyone of sense admit into his home people who are taught to despise him?
David Lakatos says
Bullshit.
loek de vette says
Hi Hugh, just a quick comment: I just don’t understand that you call Syria to be safe now. It may be safe for some, but for minorities it is far from safe. Wether they be Christians, Druze, Alvites Kurds etc
࿗Infidel࿘ says
When did Hugh claim that Syria is safe? He has been critical of the Trump administration disbanding the sanctions on Damascus
loek de vette says
Infidel: in the paragraph from the article above:
Many of those asylum seekers have arrived in Germany from Syria since 2015, when Chancellor Angela Merkel opened wide the gates of Germany to a million migrants, when the civil war was going on. But with the end of that war, there is no reason for them to remain in Germany. Why are they not being forcibly deported?
Tony says
Deny. Deny. Deny. Deceive. Deceive. Deceive… Leftists are totalitarian and terroristic like Islam’s Muslims against Non-Muslims to gain more taxpayer money, more political power, and more government control. We must vote them out of power because Muslim will deliberately bankrupt the economic system to gain ultimate power and control via Islamic Law, aka Islam.
Muslims are Totalitarian Terrorists of Allah. After all, Allah in Qur’an 8:39 says, “And engage in war with them[Non-Muslims] until there will not be sedition and the religion will be completely to Allah…”
David Lakatos says
Leftists did learn something from the Muslims. Jihad by mass emigration. Nothing like paying for your own invasion.
Emilie Green says
“Germany’s labor minister claims that the migrants flooding into Germany are ‘not arriving for the welfare.'”
Of course not. They’re coming for the cold weather and cloudy skies.
Taffy says
And I was sitting here thinking all along that they came there for the Lagerbier (lager bier) in a liter stein.
OLD GUY says
I thought it was for the good German Beer and Food.
FreeMarketFilly says
He’s right, they’re not coming for the welfare. In 2015 a population jihad was ordered by a prominent Imam. The purpose: to destroy Western civilization and build an Islamic caliphate. How to accomplish this? Millions of Muslim migrants would invade European countries, settle there, and have multiple children. And that is exactly what we’ve seen.
jerry glenn says
Germany surges in the European Islamopandering derby.
Wellington says
Denying reality is a major characteristic of what I call Leftthink.
Nabil Bissada says
German Labor Minister: ‘No One Comes for the Welfare’
99% of the Muslims who are the soldiers of Allah, coming to Germany and Europe for the welfare and using the freedom, democracy, human rights to conquer Europe.
Muslims are announcing hundreds of times they target, and plan in the west countries is to Islamize and spread the sharia law.
Muslims in the west as cowards cannot Islamize and spread the sharia law without the support of the western leaders.
Alex Lund says
If I would show the same reality denying as this politician a doctor would directly sign an order and police would deliver me directly into an insane asylum.
somehistory says
Liar. There is no way anyone can say this and not know it’s a lie. How many thousands of muzzies crossed numerous national borders in order to get to Germany for the abundant benefits?
And if she believes her lie, she’s too stupid to be making decisions that affect so many.
James Lincoln says
Yes, somehistory.
She is either a liar – or profoundly stupid.
I can see no third alternative.
somehistory says
Thank you, James. And to me, lying for such a *reason,* is also evil.
James Lincoln says
I agree, somehistory.
࿗Infidel࿘ says
No, they come to conquer. The welfare is the jizia that they think that the Western infidels owe them
John1 says
Muslims don’t leave their shithole countries for freeDOM, They come for free STUFF. Democracy is man made laws, but Islamic law is from Allah, and supercedes man made laws. Oil and vinegar don’t mix, no matter how much you wish it would.
ploome says
they come for the Mercedes and the easy blonds
abu taleb says
As a leftist, she take lying shamelessly to another level
Westman says
Can hardly stop laughing. Remember those “refugees” jumping onto trucks in Calais France to get through the “Chunnel” for better benefits in the UK? Germany also has better benefits than France.
Now there may be “refugees” who don’t think about their options in the “un-unified” EU but the majority do when the EU has not standardized its social benefits. When you’ve got options, who chooses the least advantage?
“Every euro spent on an able-bodied migrant who is not working but soaking the system is a euro less available to spend on the truly needy Germans….”. Let’s fix that and add, “… who worked all their lives, contributing to Germany, until they could no more.”
We have heard the phrase, “dumb as a barbell”. In this labor minister’s case it makes phonetic closeness.
“Mutter, why am I required to take an Arabic language class?”
David Lakatos says
The worst part is you have fools that believe this moron.
JustJim says
No more than the fools who believe the Kool Aid the Democratic Party here is selling.
David Lakatos says
Pope Francis scold Christians for not doing enough to rescue tens of thousands more Muslim invaders pretending to be refugees who are trying to get to Europe’s most generous welfare states.
David Lakatos says
Leftist did learn something from the Muslims. Jihad by mass emigration.
gravenimage says
Three Muslims caught trying to smuggle over 80 weapons, including rifles and stolen guns, into Canada
……………………………………………….
Well, not *just* the welfare. They also like to rape unveiled women and little girls. Robbery and throat-slitting, too…