German court rules asylum seekers unlawfully expelled at Polish border

In a decision challenging Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s aggressive new migration policy, a Berliner court has determined that Germany violated the country’s asylum system by deporting three Somali nationals at its border with Poland.

At a train station in Frankfurt an der Oder, a city on the eastern border of Germany, border police turned the three asylum seekers back.

In a statement released on Monday, the court stated that the applicants could not ask for more than border crossings to enter Germany. The rejection was unlawful because Germany was required to process their claims, they continued.

Officials resisted the asylum seekers’ refusal because of their “safe third country” status.

However, the court determined that the expulsion was unlawful in accordance with Dublin regulations, which require that Germany determine whether or not it is a responsible state under the agreement.

It is Merz’s first legal ruling since his conservative-led coalition’s inauguration in February, helping to boost the far-right Alternative for Germany, the nation’s second-largest political force in parliament.

Alexander Dobrindt, the interior minister, defended the deportations, claiming that pressure was putting pressure on the asylum system. The figures are excessive. He continued, “We are sticking to our practice,” he told reporters, adding that the court would be given legal justifications for the government’s position.

In doubt about immigration policies

However, the ruling was quickly seized upon by opposition lawmakers. Merz’s government suffered “a severe defeat,” according to Irene Mihalic of the Greens, who claimed that it used its powers “for populist purposes.”

She claimed that the border blockades offended our European neighbors by rejecting the European Dublin system.

According to Karl Kopp, managing director of Pro Asyl, an advocacy group for immigrants, the Somalis’ expulsion reflects an “unlawful practice of national unilateral action” in terms of asylum policy, and they must be sent back to Germany, according to Reuters.

Additionally, the decision doubts Merz’s wider migration strategy. His government issued a directive in May to retaliate against undocumented migrants seeking asylum at Germany’s borders, a marked change from former German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s more diplomatic approach to the 2015 migrant crisis.

A bloc-wide mechanism, which would allow member states to reject asylum seekers who pass through a “safe” third country, was suggested by the European Commission last month. The measure is still awaiting approval from the European legislature and the national parliaments, which have been criticized by rights groups.