German court strikes down key part of Merz’s asylum plan

02 Jun 2025 21:45
02 Jun 2025 22:08

1025387
World
Share

German court strikes down key part of Merz’s asylum plan

Pool Photo by Federico Gambarini via EPA

A Berlin court ruled on Monday that the German government's policy of turning away asylum-seekers at the country's borders is illegal, dealing a major blow to conservative Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s pledged crackdown on migration.

“People who submit an asylum application during border controls on German territory may not be turned back,” the court said in a statement on its decision, News.Az reports citing Politico.

The ruling came in response to a complaint by three Somali asylum-seekers who crossed into Germany from Poland in May, but were then returned by German police.

The ruling poses a major challenge to Merz, who in the lead up to his conservatives’ election victory earlier this year promised to implement an “effective entry ban” on undocumented migrants and asylum-seekers from his first day in office. Merz made that promise under pressure from the rising far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, which ran on an anti-immigration platform and is now the country’s strongest opposition party.

Shortly after Merz took office last month, his interior minister, Alexander Dobrindt, announced he would send several thousand additional police to Germany’s borders to conduct checks, declaring it “a clear signal to the world and to Europe that the policy in Germany has changed.” The announcement angered Germany’s neighbors, with Polish authorities in particular criticizing Merz’s government for creating traffic and inhibiting the movement of people and goods within the Schengen Area.

Following the ruling, Dobrindt challenged the scope of the court’s decision, suggesting it only applied to the three Somali complainants.

“We are sticking to the returns,” he said. “We see that the legal basis is there and will therefore continue to proceed in this way, regardless of this individual case decision.”

Although the binding effect of the decision is limited to the three Somali complainants, the government would be well advised to apply the ruling to similar cases, a court spokesperson told POLITICO. The court’s decision is final and cannot be appealed, the spokesperson also said.

News.Az