"Our society has expressed the will to integrate those who seek asylum and may remain here. We want to preserve this desire. In order to do this, we need to take action to integrate them, but we also need your trust the state safeguarding the rule of law. This will mean accepting and integrating people with a view to granting asylum and the consistent deportation of those without such chances. Today, I am proposing Germany's first law on integration," de Maiziere told the Bundestag.
In April, German Chancellor Angela Merkel agreed on a framework for the new migrant integration law with representatives of the country's 16 federal states, stating that the legislation would be presented to the Bundestag before its summer holidays.
The legislation seeks to regularize and control migration flows, as well as integrating into German society those migrants and refugees already in the country.
In Friday's speech, the interior minister warned of problems of migrant communities living in Germany and their non interaction with the wider society, Young people growing up in such communities do not learn to speak German, do not have formal employment and often commit crimes, he stressed, adding that local schools often fail at teaching them German or instilling German values.
Europe has been beset by a massive refugee crisis, with hundreds of thousands of undocumented migrants fleeing their home countries in the Middle East and North Africa to escape violence and poverty.
Germany has become a key destination for the migrants. Earlier, de Maiziere estimated that Germany received around 1.1 million registered migrants last year alone.
