Brandenburg's Interior Minister supports controversial asylum rejections

Brandenburg's Interior Minister supports controversial asylum rejections

The dispute over the rejection of asylum seekers at Germany's borders is flaring up again. Brandenburg Interior Minister René Wilke (non-party) spoke after the Interior Ministers' Conference in Bremerhaven and made it clear: The rejections are necessary in order to make migration policy stricter. He justifies this with the lack of binding regulations with the EU states, as rbb24 reports.

Wilke's statement comes at an explosive time, as a ruling by the Berlin Administrative Court declared the rejections to be inadmissible. The court ruled that asylum seekers cannot be returned without a properly conducted Dublin procedure. This had far-reaching consequences for the federal police, who turned away three Somali asylum seekers from Frankfurt (Oder) train station on May 9th, even though they had applied for asylum. According to ZDF, the federal police referred to Poland as a safe third country, but this was not sufficiently legally founded.

Political reactions and developments

However, Federal Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt (CSU) is unimpressed by the judge's rulings and intends to continue the rejections. He referred to around 25,000 rejections and around 1,000 apprehensions by smugglers. This is met with mixed reactions: While Michael Kellner from the Greens criticizes Dobrindt's actions as a violation of the law, Lena Kotré from the AfD welcomes the measures, but sees a need for further action.

Interior Minister Wilke also expresses concerns about planned controls on the Polish side. Poland's Prime Minister Tusk has announced that Poland will also introduce its own controls, which could cause significant problems for around 12,000 daily commuters from Poland. Brandenburg's Prime Minister Dietmar Woidke (SPD) is already fighting to reduce the burden on commuters and is calling for a third lane on Autobahn 12.

The legal situation in detail

The Berlin Administrative Court made it clear that the responsible German authorities must clarify which EU member state is responsible for the asylum procedure. The Dublin III Regulation stipulates that asylum seekers are only allowed to submit an application in the member state they first entered. Persons who apply for asylum on German territory may not be rejected without the Dublin procedure, as [BAMF](https://www.bamf.de/DE/Themen/AsylFluechtlingsschutz/AblaufAsylverfahrens/Dublin procedure/dublin procedure-node.html) explains.

Such a rejection can only take place in special cases, which Dobrindt was unable to convincingly demonstrate due to the lack of a clear legal basis. The court decision is currently provisional, which means that the Federal Police can continue to carry out rejections for the time being, but there is a risk of a possible change if the case law consolidates.

Overall, the debate about asylum policy and the associated legal basis will continue to be a hot topic in the future, presenting major challenges to both politics and civil society in Germany.