Berlin Court Rules Rejection of Asylum Seekers at Borders Unlawful
German police at the border. X/ @FactRefu
June 3, 2025 Hour: 1:09 pm
The court ruled that the deportation contravened the European Union’s Dublin Regulation.
On Monday, a Berlin administrative court ruled that the German government violated European Union asylum laws by deporting three Somali nationals at its eastern border with Poland, casting uncertainty over Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s newly introduced migration policy.
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The three asylum seekers – two men and one woman – were denied entry by border police at a train station in Frankfurt an der Oder, a city located on Germany’s border with Poland.
“The applicants could not demand to enter Germany beyond the border crossing. However, the rejection was unlawful because Germany is obliged to process their claims,” the court said.
German authorities had justified the refusal based on the migrants’ arrival from a “safe third country.” However, the court ruled that the deportation contravened the European Union’s Dublin Regulation, which requires the member state responsible under the agreement to examine asylum applications. In this case, that responsibility fell to Germany.
This is the first legal ruling of its kind since the conservative-led government under Chancellor Friedrich Merz took office in May, following the victory of his Christian Democratic Union (CDU)-led alliance in Germany’s federal elections earlier this year.
The new administration came to power amid rising anti-immigration sentiment that has fueled the rise of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), now the second-largest party in the Bundestag.
German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt defended the deportations, citing pressure on the national asylum system. “The numbers are too high. We are sticking to our practice,” he said, adding that legal arguments supporting the government’s actions would be submitted to the court.
In May, the Merz government introduced a directive allowing the immediate return of undocumented individuals at Germany’s borders, including asylum seekers – a significant shift from the more inclusive policy adopted during the 2015 migration crisis under former Chancellor Angela Merkel.
The court’s ruling comes as the European Commission advances a proposal for a bloc-wide mechanism permitting member states to return asylum seekers who transited through “safe” third countries. The proposal has faced criticism from human rights organizations and awaits approval from national parliaments and the European Parliament.
teleSUR/ JF
Source: Xinhua