A young family say they were held at Berlin airport facilities for 15 days without adequate support, or care while their asylum application was being processed. The family also said it was discouraged from seeking legal assistance because their case was already being handled by Germany’s Federal Office for Migration and Refugees and that the family had “little chance of being allowed into Germany anyway.”
An Amazigh family (previously often known as Berber) who fled Algeria to Germany were forced to spend 15 days in accommodation at Berlin Brandenburg Airport while their asylum application was being processed.
The mother of the family, which consists of parents and their three children, identified only as Amira under a pseudonym in German media, described the ordeal as “like being in prison.”
According to the Katholische Nachrichten-Agentur (KNA), a German Catholic news agency, the family applied for asylum and arrived in Germany by plane in September. Upon landing, they were questioned for 12 hours. Amira reportedly told police the family had fled Algeria because the country’s Arab-majority society “barely accepted them as Imazighen [the plural of Amazigh],” an indigenous people of North Africa, according to KNA.
She also said criminal groups had threatened the family and kidnapped her daughter. In response, the family say they paid intermediaries to arrange their journey to Germany via Istanbul and Egypt. KNA reported that the family’s claims could not be independently verified by its newsroom.
The family has since been allowed to leave the airport. The family is now staying at an initial reception center in Eisenhüttenstadt, Brandenburg, while their asylum applications are processed. According to the family, however, their Algerian passports are still at the airport.
The family could be sent back to Egypt at any time, to the airport from which they flew to get to Berlin.
“That would be extremely dangerous for us,” Amira has said.
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What unfolded at Berlin Airport?
After the 12 hours of questioning, the family and their children, aged 10, 12 and 17, were reportedly taken to the airport’s so-called external-border facility on the orders of Germany’s Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF). The fenced facility, flanked with security cameras, opened in June and can hold up to 40 people. The facility accommodates travelers arriving in Germany by air who are initially assessed as having little chance of being granted asylum.
Residents must remain there while their asylum applications are assessed. If an application is approved, they are allowed to enter Germany. If it is rejected, they can be deported directly back to where they flew from.
At the airport compound, the family of five said they shared a small room with basic furnishings and used a communal kitchen and bathroom while meals were provided. However, according to KNA, Amira described some of the employees at the site as “loud and aggressive,” and criticized the medical care available at the facility.
File photo used as illustration: A protest at the airport Leizig/Germany against deportations to Afghanistan, August 24, 2026 | Photo: picture-alliance
When Amira asked staff about finding a lawyer for the family, she says they actively discouraged her from seeking legal assistance. They told her that the case was already being handled by Germany’s Federal Office for Refugees and Migration (BAMF) and that the family had little chance of being allowed into Germany anyway. So she said she used ChatGPT to search for a lawyer and contacted one by email from her mobile.
Despite the lawyer’s efforts, the family had to remain at the airport for 15 days, which included her daughter’s birthday.
According to Amira, on the day inspectors visited the site, “everyone behaved well.”
Brandenburg’s Central Immigration Authority, which is responsible for accommodation at Berlin Brandenburg Airport, has responded to the family’s allegations. BAMF, by contrast, is responsible for handling asylum applications. KNA reported that in response to an inquiry from them, the authority said all employees were expected to treat residents respectfully and that reports of inappropriate behavior would be investigated. It also said the playroom was available to children every day and that medical care was guaranteed, rather than being limited to emergencies as Amira had explained.
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New asylum pact draws criticism in its implementation
The external-border facility at Berlin’s airport is part of the reform of the Common European Asylum System (CEAS), which came into force in June this year, and is intended to accelerate asylum procedures.
At the EU’s external borders, the rules allow for a legal procedure being described as the “fiction of non-entry,” by its critics. Under this rule, asylum seekers can be treated as not having officially entered the country even when they are physically present on its territory. The border procedure applies to people who meet the relevant legal criteria, including certain applicants considered to pose a security risk or who have little prospect of receiving asylum.
Deportations from Germany are most often carried out via plane | Photo: Hendrik Schmidt / dpa/ picture alliance
People subject to the procedure must wait at the facility while BAMF decides on their applications – such as was the case with Amira and her family.
Airport asylum procedures were already in place before this reform, but the new rules have extended the time allowed for decisions. BAMF must decide on an asylum application within eight weeks, but the deadline can now be extended to 12 weeks. If an application is rejected, the person seeking protection can be deported and returned directly through a border procedure.
The CEAS reform is regarded as one of the biggest changes in European asylum policy in decades and has drawn condemnation from human rights groups, such as the Frankfurt-based Pro Asyl.
“Speed and deterrence count more than human rights in the new border procedures,” the organization said, adding that Amira’s case is not an isolated one. “Asylum seekers do not belong behind fences and walls.”
The Brandenburg Refugee Council, meanwhile, has called on the state government not to use the EU reform as a reason to restrict the freedom of movement of people in search of protection.
“It is and remains wrong to imprison people for reasons of residence,” the Council said, adding that a nationwide day of protest is planned for Saturday (October 24). Under the slogan “Nationwide against the deportation madness,” protests are due to take place at Berlin airport and at the airports in Frankfurt, Cologne, Munich, Düsseldorf, Hanover and Leipzig.
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‘We just long for security’
In this particular case, the family was released from the airport border procedure because the Administrative Court in Cottbus (a town in Brandenburg) raised doubts about whether BAMF could adequately meet the needs of the family and its children while at the airport facilities. In expedited proceedings, the court halted the airport border procedure, and allowed the family to enter Germany.
In Eisenhüttenstadt, the family is still waiting to find out what will happen next. “We don’t know anything about the current status or when we’ll find out,” Amira reportedly told journalists.
The family hopes to be allowed to remain in Germany permanently. “We just long for security,” Amira says.
In Algeria, she worked in a pharmacy, while her husband was a hairdresser. “We want to learn German quickly and get involved here,” she added. The Berliner Morgenpost reported that the family hope their case will be resolved quickly and that the children can start school and play like other children their age.