Court stops Dobrindt's rejections: Asylum seekers are allowed to stay!

Court stops Dobrindt's rejections: Asylum seekers are allowed to stay!

Frankfurt (Oder), Deutschland - The Berlin Administrative Court decided that the rejection of asylum seekers at the German border is not permitted. This decision that was made on Monday has far-reaching consequences for the practice of border controls and forces the CSU Federal Minister Dobrindt to rethink his approach. The case is based on the lawsuit of three Somali asylum seekers who had entered Germany on May 9, 2025.

The federal police had sent these persons back to Poland despite their asylum application, referring to the German Asylum Act, referring to the German Asylum Act in certain cases. But the administrative court found that this violated the EU Dublin III Ordinance. This regulation obliges Germany to carry out a Dublin procedure in the event of an asylum application to determine the responsible EU state.

Legal basis of the judgment

The court rejected the Federal Police argument, according to which a risk to public security justifies rejection. It became clear that there was a lack of sufficient evidence of such a danger. This precedence decision could significantly restrict all future rejections at the German external borders.

According to the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF), the Dublin III Ordinance regulates that the first EU state that a person seeking protection has entered is responsible for the asylum application. In particularly narrow exceptional cases, rejection is possible without prior responsibility test, but not in this case. As a rule, applications for asylum must be checked in the first Member State, which the asylum seeker enters. If an asylum application is made in Germany, the responsible authorities must handle the process in accordance with the Dublin VO and, if necessary, hand over the case to the responsible member country.

consequences for the practice of border controls

The decision of the court could have far -reaching effects on nationwide practice in border controls. Minister Dobrindt had recently announced that it would strengthen the border controls on the border with Poland. The judgment now sets close limits to this practice and could ultimately lead to rethinking within the federal government.

The Dublin III Ordinance, in force since 2013, is a central instrument for regulating the asylum procedure in the EU. Their goal is to prevent asylum seekers from submitting applications in several countries, which is called secondary migration. The procedure applied to each Member State stipulates that an asylum application is only checked by one Member State.

The decision of the Berlin Administrative Court is inconstitution and underlines the importance of legal standards in the asylum procedure. The discussion about border controls and asylum procedures will be faltered by this judgment. From now on, an even rigorous handling of the requirements and rights of asylum seekers is required.

For more information on the course of the Dublin procedure, the documents of the Bundestag here href = "https://www.bamf.de/de/asylfluechtlahnschutz/baufasylverfahren/dublinverfahren-node.html"> bamf can be found detailed information on the responsibility for asylum procedures in the EU.