\u201cIf someone is being expelled simply for their political beliefs, that\u2019s a massive overreach.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\u201cWhat we\u2019re seeing here is straight out of the far right\u2019s playbook,\u201d said Alexander Gorski, a lawyer representing two of the protesters. \u201cYou can see it in the U.S. and Germany, too: Political dissent is silenced by targeting the migration status of protesters.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom a legal perspective, we were alarmed by the reasoning, which reminded us of the case of Mahmoud Khalil,\u201d Gorski said, referring to the Palestinian Columbia University graduate and U.S. permanent resident who was seized from his apartment building on allegations related to campus pro-Palestine activities.<\/p>\n
The four people slated for deportation, Cooper Longbottom, Kasia Wlaszczyk, Shane O\u2019Brien, and Roberta Murray, are citizens of, respectively, the U.S., Poland, and in the latter two cases Ireland.<\/p>\n
Under German migration law, authorities don\u2019t need a criminal conviction to issue a deportation order, said Thomas Oberh\u00e4user, a lawyer and chair of the executive committee on migration law at the German Bar Association. The reasons cited, however, must be proportional to severity of deportation, meaning that factors like whether someone will be separated from their family or lose their business come into play.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe key question is: How severe is the threat and how proportionate the response?\u201d said Oberh\u00e4user, who is not involved in the case. \u201cIf someone is being expelled simply for their political beliefs, that\u2019s a massive overreach.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cImpermissible\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n Each of the four protesters faces separate allegations from the authorities, all of which are sourced from police files and tied to pro-Palestine actions in Berlin. Some, but not all, of the allegations would correspond to criminal charges in Germany; almost none of them have been brought before a criminal court.<\/p>\n The protests in question include a mass sit-in at the Berlin central train station, a road blockade, and the late-2024 occupation of a building at the Free University Berlin.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n The only event that tied the four cases together was the allegation that the protesters participated in the university occupation, which involved property damage, and alleged obstruction of an arrest \u2014 a so-called de-arrest aimed at blocking a fellow protesters\u2019 detention. None of the protesters are accused of any particular acts of vandalism or the de-arrest at the university. Instead, the deportation order cites the suspicion that they took part in a coordinated group action. (The Free University told The Intercept it had no knowledge of the deportation orders.)<\/p>\n Some of the allegations are minor. Two, for example, are accused of calling a police officer \u201cfascist\u201d \u2014 insulting an officer, which is a crime. Three are accused of demonstrating with groups chanting slogans like \u201cFrom the river to the sea, Palestine Will be Free\u201d \u2014 which was outlawed last year<\/a> in Germany \u2014 and \u201cfree Palestine.\u201d Authorities also claim all four shouted antisemitic or anti-Israel slogans, though none are specified.<\/p>\n Two are accused of grabbing an officers\u2019\u00a0or another protesters\u2019\u00a0arm in an attempt to stop arrests at the train station sit-in.<\/p>\n O\u2019Brien, one of the Irish citizens, is the only one of the four whose deportation order included a charge \u2013 the accusation that he called a police officer a \u201cfascist\u201d \u2013 that has been brought before a criminal court in Berlin, where he was acquitted.<\/p>\n All four are accused, without evidence, of supporting Hamas, a group Germany has designated as a terrorist organization.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat we\u2019re seeing are the harshest possible measures available, based on accusations that are extremely vague.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Three of the four deportation orders explicitly invoke alleged public safety threats and support for Hamas to argue that the protesters are not entitled to their constitutional rights to free expression and assembly in deportation proceedings.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat we\u2019re seeing are the harshest possible measures available, based on accusations that are extremely vague and in part completely unfounded,\u201d said Gorski, the lawyer for two of the protesters.<\/p>\n In an unprecedented move, said Gorski, three of the four deportation orders cite Germany\u2019s national pledge to defend Israel \u2013 the country\u2019s Staatsr\u00e4son, German for reason of state \u2013\u00a0as justification.<\/p>\n Oberh\u00e4user, of the Bar Association\u2019s immigration committee, said Staatsr\u00e4son is a principle rather than a meaningful legal category. And a parliamentary body recently argued that there are no legally binding effects of the provision.<\/p>\n The distinction, said Oberh\u00e4user, makes the use of Staatsr\u00e4son in deportation proceedings legally dubious: \u201cThat\u2019s impermissible under constitutional law.\u201d<\/p>\n Internal Objections<\/strong> Internal emails obtained by The Intercept show political pressure behind the scenes to issue the deportation orders, despite objections from Berlin immigration officials.<\/p>\n The battle played out between bureaucrats from the branches of the Senate of Berlin, the state\u2019s executive governing body under the authority of Kai Wegner, the mayor, who is in turn elected by the city\u2019s parliamentary body.<\/p>\n After the Berlin Senate\u2019s Interior Department asked for a signed deportation order, Silke Buhlmann, head of crime prevention and repatriation at the immigration agency, raised objections.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are no final criminal convictions to substantiate a sufficiently serious and actual threat.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n In an email, Buhlmann noted her concerns were shared by the immigration agency\u2019s top official Engelhard Mazanke.<\/p>\n Buhlmann explicitly warned that the legal basis for revoking the three EU citizens\u2019 freedom of movement was insufficient \u2014\u00a0and that deporting them would be unlawful.<\/p>\n \u201cIn coordination with Mr. Mazanke, I inform you that I cannot comply with your directive of December 20, 2024 \u2014 to conduct hearings for the individuals listed under a) to c) and subsequently determine loss of freedom of movement \u2014 for legal reasons,\u201d Buhlmann wrote, referring to the three citizens of EU states as cases A to C. Buhlmann wrote that, though the police reports \u201csuggest a potential threat to public order from the individuals concerned, there are no final criminal convictions to substantiate a sufficiently serious and actual threat.\u201d<\/p>\n The internal objection, known as a remonstration, was quickly overruled by Berlin Senate Department official Christian Oestmann, who dismissed the concerns and ordered to proceed with the expulsion orders anyway.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u201c[F]or these individuals, continued freedom of movement cannot be justified on grounds of public order and safety, regardless of any criminal convictions,\u201d he wrote. \u201cI therefore request that the hearings be conducted immediately as instructed.\u201d<\/p>\n In a statement to The Intercept, a spokesperson for the Senate Department told The Intercept that the Interior department had authority over the immigration office.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Senate Department for the Interior and Sport exercises technical and administrative supervision over the State Office for Immigration,\u201d the spokesperson said. \u201cAs part of this role, it holds the authority to issue directives.\u201d<\/p>\n The Senate declined to comment on the specifics of the cases, citing privacy protections. The immigration agency did not respond to The Intercept\u2019s request for comment.<\/p>\n In the end, Mazanke, the top immigration justice official, complied with the directive and signed the order.<\/p>\n The Targets<\/strong> In Interviews with The Intercept, the four protesters on the receiving end of the deportation orders declined to discuss the specific allegations levelled against them.<\/p>\n All four have, for the meantime, been ordered to leave Germany by April 21, 2025,\u00a0or face forcible deportation.<\/p>\n The most severe consequences would be faced by Longbottom, a 27-year-old American student from Seattle, Washington, who would be barred by the order from entering any of the 29 Schengen Zone countries for two years after leaving Germany.<\/p>\n We\u2019re independent of corporate interests \u2014 and powered by members. Join us. <\/p>\n Join Our Newsletter <\/p>\n Thank You For Joining! <\/p>\n \n Original reporting. Fearless journalism. Delivered to you. <\/p>\n Will you take the next step to support our independent journalism by becoming a member of The Intercept?\n <\/p>\n By signing up, I agree to receive emails from The Intercept and to the Privacy Policy<\/a> and Terms of Use<\/a>.<\/p>\n Longbottom, who denied any antisemitism, told The Intercept they have only six months left to complete their master\u2019s degree at Berlin\u2019s Alice Salomon University studying human rights work.<\/p>\n \u201cWill I be able to finish my Master\u2019s program here? Where am I going to live?\u201d Longbottom said. \u201cAll of these questions are very unclear.\u201d<\/p>\n Longbottom, who is trans, lives in Berlin with their partner, an Italian citizen. The prospect of being separated weighs heavily on them.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t have anything to start over with,\u201d they said. \u201cAs a trans person, the idea of going back to the U.S. right now feels really scary.\u201d<\/p>\n Kasia Wlaszczyk, 35, a cultural worker and Polish citizen, said he never imagined this could happen. He emphasized that allegations of antisemitism are predominantly a racist tactic levelled against Palestinians, Arabs, and Muslims in Germany and the deportation orders reflected an increase in the use of the allegation against anyone standing in solidarity with them.<\/p>\n \u201cGermany weaponizes these accusations,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Wlaszczyk, who is also trans, hasn\u2019t lived in Poland since the age of ten.<\/p>\n \u201cIf this goes through, it would uproot me from the community I\u2019ve built here.\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The sense of an impending loss of community was common among the protesters.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re being used as guinea pigs.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n \u201cMy illusion of Berlin has been shattered by the lack of response to the genocide,\u201d\u00a0said Shane O\u2019Brien, 29, an Irish citizen. The violent repression of Arab communities in Berlin, he said, left him shaken.<\/p>\n After three years in Berlin, the threat of removal now feels like a rupture to Roberta Murray, 31, who is also Irish.<\/p>\n \u201cMy life is here,\u201d they said. \u201cI\u2019m not making any plans for Ireland. I believe that we will win \u2014 and that we\u2019ll stay. I don\u2019t believe this will hold up in a court.\u201d<\/p>\n Gorski and other attorneys now filed an urgent motion for interim relief alongside a formal appeal challenging the legality of the deportation orders.<\/p>\n He noted that he has worked on similar cases where migration law was used to target pro-Palestinian activists for their speech, but what sets the current four cases apart, he said, is the openness with which Germany\u2019s so-called Staatsr\u00e4son is used to justify expulsions.<\/p>\n \u201cThese people\u2019s criminal records are clean,\u201d Gorski said. Yet the Berlin government appears to be constructing a narrative of \u201cimminent danger\u201d to sidestep due process.<\/p>\n Gorski warned that the cases are a test run for broader repression against immigrants and activists in Germany, not just about four protesters.<\/p>\n He said, \u201cThey\u2019re being used as guinea pigs.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Berlin\u2019s immigration authorities are moving to deport four young foreign residents on allegations related to participation in protests…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":18916,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5310],"tags":[12478,12475,2000,299,1824,12485,4362,12477,12482,12483,12484,12480,12481,12476,12479],"class_list":{"0":"post-18915","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-germany","8":"tag-article-type-article-post","9":"tag-day-monday","10":"tag-eu","11":"tag-europe","12":"tag-germany","13":"tag-language-english","14":"tag-long","15":"tag-page-type-article","16":"tag-partner-factiva","17":"tag-partner-smart-news","18":"tag-partner-social-flow","19":"tag-subject-justice","20":"tag-subject-world","21":"tag-time-22-00","22":"tag-wc-1000-1999"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114335754712537587","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18915","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=18915"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18915\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18916"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18915"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18915"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18915"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"DEIR](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/GettyImages-1768403880-2.jpg\")
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