The president of Germany’s top administrative court on Saturday voiced concern about the new conservative-led government’s controversial policy to turn away migrants at the country’s borders, even if they claim asylum.
The measure was ruled illegal by a Berlin court earlier this month in an urgent proceeding relating to the case of three Somalian nationals who were turned away at the Polish border.
The Berlin Administrative Court found that German authorities were responsible for checking which country was responsible for the migrants’ asylum applications under EU migration rules known as the Dublin Regulation.
Despite the ruling, Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s administration has continued to insist the measure is legal, with Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt calling the case an “individual judgement.”
But Andreas Korbmacher, president of the Federal Administrative Court, warned in the Handelsblatt newspaper on Saturday that Dobrindt’s statement was “not quite right.”
If another court rules against the government’s policy, the “chancellor and interior minister will surely have to consider the extent to which they can still uphold the view they have previously held,” said Korbmacher.
The government has insisted that the case relates only to the three Somalians and is not applicable to others turned away at the border.
However, Korbmacher explained that the Berlin court has final jurisdiction in the case, as a result of political decisions to speed up cases on migration.
“Politicians have deliberately regulated this in order to reach final decisions quickly in such proceedings,” said Korbmacher. “The Interior Ministry is now falling foul of this.”
