{"id":152990,"date":"2025-06-02T20:34:09","date_gmt":"2025-06-02T20:34:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/152990\/"},"modified":"2025-06-02T20:34:09","modified_gmt":"2025-06-02T20:34:09","slug":"german-court-rules-asylum-seekers-unlawfully-expelled-at-polish-border-human-rights-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/152990\/","title":{"rendered":"German court rules asylum seekers unlawfully expelled at Polish border | Human Rights News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Judges say Berlin broke EU law by refusing Somali asylum seekers entry.<\/p>\n

A Berlin court has ruled that Germany violated asylum law when it deported three Somali nationals at its border with Poland in a decision that challenges Chancellor Friedrich Merz\u2019s aggressive new migration stance<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The three asylum seekers \u2013 two men and one woman \u2013 were turned back by border police at a train station in Frankfurt an der Oder, a city on Germany\u2019s eastern border.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe applicants could not demand to enter Germany beyond the border crossing,\u201d the court said in a statement on Monday. \u201cHowever, the rejection was unlawful because Germany is obliged to process their claims.\u201d<\/p>\n

Officials cited the asylum seekers\u2019 arrival from a \u201csafe third country\u201d as grounds for their refusal.<\/p>\n

But the court determined the expulsion was illegal under European Union rules, specifically the Dublin regulation, which requires Germany to assess asylum claims if it is the responsible state under the agreement.<\/p>\n

It marks the first such legal ruling since Merz\u2019s conservative-led coalition took office in February, riding a wave of anti-immigration sentiment that has helped boost the far-right Alternative for Germany party<\/a>, now the country\u2019s second largest political force in parliament.<\/p>\n

Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt defended the deportations, saying the asylum system was failing under pressure. \u201cThe numbers are too high. We are sticking to our practice,\u201d he told reporters, adding that the court would receive legal justifications for the government\u2019s position.<\/p>\n

Migration policies in doubt<\/p>\n

But opposition lawmakers were quick to capitalise on the ruling. Irene Mihalic of the Greens called it \u201ca severe defeat\u201d for Merz\u2019s government, accusing it of overstepping its powers \u201cfor populist purposes\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe border blockades were a rejection of the European Dublin system and have offended our European neighbours,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Karl Kopp, managing director of Pro Asyl, an immigration advocacy group, said the expulsion of the Somalis reflected an \u201cunlawful practice of national unilateral action\u201d in asylum policy and called for their return to Germany, the Reuters news agency reported.<\/p>\n

The ruling also casts doubt on Merz\u2019s wider migration agenda. In May, his government introduced a directive to turn back undocumented people at Germany\u2019s borders, including those seeking asylum \u2013 a sharp departure from former Chancellor Angela Merkel\u2019s more open policy during the 2015 migrant crisis.<\/p>\n

Last month, the European Commission proposed a bloc-wide mechanism that would permit member states to reject asylum seekers who passed through a \u201csafe\u201d third country. The measure, widely criticised by rights groups, still awaits approval from national parliaments and the European legislature.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Judges say Berlin broke EU law by refusing Somali asylum seekers entry. A Berlin court has ruled that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":152991,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5310],"tags":[2000,299,1699,1824,4582,6657,12,770,285,6658,65163],"class_list":{"0":"post-152990","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-germany","8":"tag-eu","9":"tag-europe","10":"tag-european-union","11":"tag-germany","12":"tag-human-rights","13":"tag-migration","14":"tag-news","15":"tag-poland","16":"tag-politics","17":"tag-refugees","18":"tag-somalia"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114615685317997030","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152990","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=152990"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152990\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/152991"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=152990"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=152990"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=152990"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}