An administrative court in Berlin has ruled that turning away asylum seekers at Germany’s borders is illegal.
The court issued the ruling in response to a challenge filed by three Somali nationals, stating that the Dublin Regulation must be followed to determine the State responsible for processing asylum applications.
The Somalis, two men and a woman, had arrived in Germany by train from Poland. They were sent back to Poland on the same day, 9 May 2025, after a customs check at Frankfurt an der Oder station, despite having requested asylum.
Currently residing in Poland, they contested their expulsion through the German court, which found that rejecting their asylum application at the border was illegal.
Having made an asylum claim, the Somali applicants should have been allowed entry, the court said. It added that the Dublin procedure, which assigns the country responsible for examining such applications, should have taken place in Germany.
The court dismissed the German government’s claim of an “emergency situation,” since the police had not demonstrated any substantial threat to security or public order.
The court’s decisions are final, so no appeal can be made against its ruling.
