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Russia Today
2 days ago
- General
- Russia Today
Berlin court bars police from turning immigrants away at border
A Berlin court has barred German border police from rejecting asylum seekers arriving from neighboring EU countries without reviewing their claims. The ruling deals a blow to Chancellor Friedrich Merz's recent efforts to reduce asylum-related land migration. Last month, shortly after Merz took office, Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt introduced a policy under which undocumented migrants arriving at land borders were to be turned back – unless they are unaccompanied minors, pregnant women, or otherwise vulnerable individuals. The move aimed to fulfill Merz's campaign promise to curb migration amid heightened public concern following a series of high-profile crimes involving asylum seekers. On Monday, however, the Berlin Administrative Court ruled against the policy. The decision came in response to a legal challenge brought by three Somali nationals who tried to enter Germany last month but were returned to Poland without any examination of their claims. The court found Dobrindt's policy to be unlawful under the Dublin Regulation, which governs how EU member states handle asylum applications. The rules require that asylum seekers apply in the first EU country they enter. If they later apply in another member state, such as Germany, that country can seek to transfer them back to the original state. In its ruling, the Berlin court emphasized that Germany cannot reject asylum seekers at the border without first checking whether they have submitted a claim, and whether the Dublin rules apply. It noted that while Germany is not obligated to accept all asylum seekers at the border, it also cannot summarily return individuals without reviewing their applications. As noted by the New York Times, the German authorities could fulfill these requirements by holding applicants in processing centers until it can be determined which EU state is responsible for their claims. Dobrindt responded to the court's ruling by arguing that it applies only to the specific case of the three Somali migrants and does not undermine the government's broader policy. 'We stand by our legal opinion and do not consider it to have been undermined in this instance,' he told reporters on Monday night. Efforts to curb migration to Germany intensified following a series of violent crimes, including the 2024 knife attack in Solingen, where a Syrian asylum seeker fatally stabbed three people and injured eight others during a summer festival. The attacker had originally entered the EU through Bulgaria. German officials failed to deport him because they could not locate him at his assigned asylum residence.
Russia Today
3 days ago
- General
- Russia Today
Berlin court bars police from turning migrants away at border
A Berlin court has barred German border police from rejecting asylum seekers arriving from neighboring EU countries without reviewing their claims. The ruling deals a blow to Chancellor Friedrich Merz's recent efforts to reduce asylum-related land migration. Last month, shortly after Merz took office, Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt introduced a policy under which undocumented migrants arriving at land borders were to be turned back – unless they are unaccompanied minors, pregnant women, or otherwise vulnerable individuals. The move aimed to fulfill Merz's campaign promise to curb migration amid heightened public concern following a series of high-profile crimes involving asylum seekers. On Monday, however, the Berlin Administrative Court ruled against the policy. The decision came in response to a legal challenge brought by three Somali nationals who tried to enter Germany last month but were returned to Poland without any examination of their claims. The court found Dobrindt's policy to be unlawful under the Dublin Regulation, which governs how EU member states handle asylum applications. The rules require that asylum seekers apply in the first EU country they enter. If they later apply in another member state, such as Germany, that country can seek to transfer them back to the original state. In its ruling, the Berlin court emphasized that Germany cannot reject asylum seekers at the border without first checking whether they have submitted a claim, and whether the Dublin rules apply. It noted that while Germany is not obligated to accept all asylum seekers at the border, it also cannot summarily return individuals without reviewing their applications. As noted by the New York Times, the German authorities could fulfill these requirements by holding applicants in processing centers until it can be determined which EU state is responsible for their claims. Dobrindt responded to the court's ruling by arguing that it applies only to the specific case of the three Somali migrants and does not undermine the government's broader policy. 'We stand by our legal opinion and do not consider it to have been undermined in this instance,' he told reporters on Monday night. Efforts to curb migration to Germany intensified following a series of violent crimes, including the 2024 knife attack in Solingen, where a Syrian asylum seeker fatally stabbed three people and injured eight others during a summer festival. The attacker had originally entered the EU through Bulgaria. German officials failed to deport him because they could not locate him at his assigned asylum residence.
Irish Times
3 days ago
- General
- Irish Times
German immigration clampdown ruled illegal by federal court
Germany 's tough new migration approach, which involves turning asylum seekers back at the border, has been described as unlawful by Berlin's federal administrative court. The ruling, which cannot be appealed, undercuts a pledge by Chancellor Friedrich Merz and his government, sworn in last month, to cut immigration numbers. Monday's case was taken by three Somali nationals, two men and a woman, turned back on May 9th by German border police at the railway station in Frankfurt an der Oder to Poland. The police, acting under a new regulation passed by the federal interior ministry, refused to allow the three to file for asylum in Germany and returned them to Poland the same day. The police sent them back, the government ruled in court, because they were coming from a safe third country. READ MORE On Tuesday the court said the border police actions, and the regulation they were following, ignored necessary legal steps and violated asylum provisions. [ EU warns Poland for suspending Dublin migrant regulation Opens in new window ] 'Persons who express the wish to seek asylum while at a border check on German territory may not be sent back,' the court ruled. At least, it added, until it is known which European country has frontline responsibility for their asylum application under the EU's Dublin system. Until Monday the interior ministry had cited emergency provisions and a danger to public order as its justifications for setting aside EU law. In court it argued that one quarter of the 230,000 asylum applications filed last year in Europe were filed in Germany. The court dismissed this argument, saying 'it remains open what these numbers mean for public order or security'. It also criticised the unilateral nature of Berlin's new policy as contradicting the 'loyal co-operation' required of EU member states 'to look, in a serious way, for common solutions'. The opposition Green Party called the ruling as a 'severe defeat' for Chancellor Merz and his interior minister, Alexander Dobrindt . [ Germany increases border checks: Alexander Dobrindt oversees radical policy shift Opens in new window ] 'Merz and Dobrindt ignored the warnings and broke EU law, and have now run into a brick wall,' said Katharina Dröge, Green co-leader. Green Bundestag parliamentary floor leader Irene Mihalic called the ruling a warning to the government 'to abide by the law in the future and not to knowingly exceed its own powers for populist purposes'. Germany's police union also welcomed the ruling, saying 'the approach was legally iffy from the start'. Immigration lobby group Pro Asyl said an 'unlawful practice of national unilateral action in asylum policy has failed, this nonsense must now come to an end'. Mr Dobrindt insisted on Monday evening he would stick to his policy. 'There is a legal basis for it, regardless of individual case rulings,' he said, adding that the three plaintiffs had sought to enter Germany three times previously. .
CNA
4 days ago
- Business
- CNA
German govt defiant despite court ruling against migration crackdown
FRANKFURT: The new German government on Monday (Jun 2) said it would continue its flagship policy of turning asylum seekers away at its borders, despite a court ruling against the practice. The policy was brought in on May 7, just a day after conservative Chancellor Friedrich Merz and his cabinet took office with a promise to crack down on irregular migration. However, Berlin's Administrative Court ruled on Monday that people "who express the wish to seek asylum while at a border check on German territory may not be sent back" before it was determined which state was responsible for processing their claim under the EU's so-called "Dublin" system. Despite this, Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said hours after the judgement that "we will continue with the pushbacks", adding that "we think we have the legal justification for this". Monday's court decision follows an appeal made by three Somali nationals who encountered an immigration check at a train station at Frankfurt an der Oder on the Polish border on May 9. They expressed their wish to claim asylum in Germany but were sent back to Poland the same day. The court said that their pushback was illegal and that its "findings can also be applied to other cases" of people being turned away at Germany's borders. However, the court also ruled that "the petitioners cannot demand to be allowed into" Germany. The process of establishing which EU state is responsible for the asylum application "can be carried out at or close to the border", the court said. The court rejected the government's argument that the Dublin procedure could be disregarded if this is necessary to "keep public order and protect domestic security". The government had failed "to demonstrate a danger to public security or order" that would justify such a move, the court said. Dobrindt insisted that Monday's judgment only had a direct impact on the "individual case" of the three Somali complainants. He said he wanted the court to start another procedure in which the government could explain its case "more firmly". However, it is unclear whether this is legally possible given that the court said Monday's decision was final. Under the Dublin procedure, irregular migrants should be registered in the EU country they first enter. Should they head to another nation in the bloc, they can in most cases be returned to their first port of call in the EU. IRRITATED NEIGHBOURS The new policy of pushing back undocumented migrants at Germany's borders, including almost all asylum seekers, was quickly introduced after Merz's government took office early last month. This was despite worries voiced by some in his coalition's junior partner, the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD), that the policy was not legally sound. The government has also stressed that the pushbacks were temporary and that the longer-term solution has to be improved security at the EU's external borders. According to the interior ministry, more than 2,800 people have been denied entry to Germany in the first two weeks of the new policy being applied, including 138 people who wanted to claim asylum. A crackdown on irregular migration was a key plank of Merz's platform for February's general election. That vote saw the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) score its best-ever result of just over 20 per cent, and Merz insists that action on migration is the only way to halt the party's growth. The new government's pushback policy has led to some irritation among Germany's neighbours as well as fears of adverse impacts on cross-border commuters and border communities. On Monday, a foreign ministry source confirmed that the French embassy in Berlin had sent the German government a letter demanding clarity on Germany's migration policy. As well as the pushbacks, Merz's new government is planning to suspend family reunifications for two years for immigrants who have subsidiary protection status. It also wants to abolish a measure brought in under the previous government, which enables people to apply for German citizenship after three years if they can prove they are exceptionally well-integrated into German society.
Bloomberg
4 days ago
- General
- Bloomberg
German Court Blocks Rejection of Asylum Seekers in Blow to Merz
A Berlin court ruled that Germany's controversial move to refuse entry to some asylum seekers is unlawful in a setback for Chancellor Friedrich Merz's tougher stance on migration. The court granted a challenge filed by three Somali nationals who were turned back last month at the Polish border, and said they should have been processed according to the European Union's so-called Dublin rules for asylum cases.
