German court deals blow to Merz’s Trump-like asylum crackdown

A court in Germany has ruled that the Friedrich Merz administration has violated the law by turning back asylum seekers at the border without following a proper assessment, dealing a blow to the Chancellor’s effort to cut down immigration.

Merz had announced the plans to reject refuge to migrants during his campaign after an Afghan asylum seeker fatally stabbed a two-year-old and an adult at the  Bavarian town of Aschaffenburg.

Amid rising support for the far-right, anti-immigration Alternative für Germany (AfD), which secured over 20 per cent of the vote and finished second, the conservative leader issued a series of pledges. These promises were swiftly implemented on his first day in office by Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt.

What has the court said?

The Berlin Administrative Court said on Monday that turning down asylum to immigrants at border controls is unlawful unless they are carried out under EU’s Dublin procedure.

The court was hearing the case of three Somali nationals who were sent back to Poland on May 9 as per the new regulation.

“Persons who express the wish to seek asylum while at a border check on German territory may not be sent back before it is known which country is responsible for processing the claim under the EU’s so-called ‘Dublin’ system,” the court said.

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What’s the case?

On May 9, three individuals—two men and one woman—arrived in Germany by train from Poland. They were stopped by Federal Police at the railway station in Frankfurt an der Oder, located in the eastern state of Brandenburg. Although the trio expressed their intention to seek asylum in Germany, they were sent back to Poland the same day. Authorities justified the decision by stating that the group had entered from a safe third country.

How has the govt responded?

Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt, who implemented the regulation in Germany, said that the court’s ruling applies to one particular case and asserted that the government would continue working on the new system of curbing immigration.

“We will continue with the pushback. We think we have the legal justification for this,” he said.

Dobrindt stated that the Interior Ministry would offer more detailed explanations for the pushbacks, in accordance with the court’s request. He also noted that the migrants in question had tried to cross the border three times, only citing their right to asylum on the third attempt.