German Border Rejections Raise Legal Concerns, Say SPD Lawmakers
A group of German lawmakers from the Social Democratic Party (SPD) have expressed legal doubts over the rejections of asylum seekers at the country’s borders. “Instructions to the federal police on a potentially shaky legal basis do not do justice to the situation, especially if the main goal is to send political signals” said Sebastian Roloff, a Bavarian SPD member and a member of the party’s executive board, in an interview with the Stern magazine.
Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt, a member of the Christian Social Union (CSU), has explicitly allowed the federal police to turn back people, including those who submit a protection application and has announced that the European Commission will be provided with a legal justification for the tightened border controls.
The legal basis for the German government’s actions at the border is disputed. Under the Dublin Regulation, asylum seekers can only be returned to other EU countries if it has first been established which EU state is responsible and whether the rights of the individual are protected there.
Jan Dieren, the chairman of the SPD’s youth wing, DL21, criticized the impression that the instruction from the interior ministry was given without first finding a solid legal basis. “This would be worrying, as it would suggest that more weight was given to the impressive headlines than to looking at what is reasonable” said the North Rhine-Westphalian lawmaker in an interview with the magazine.
The goal of reducing irregular migration is shared, said SPD interior policy expert Lars Castellucci, but the key issue is that the rejected asylum seekers have access to a procedure. The SPD parliamentary group is pushing for cooperation with neighboring countries, said the Baden-Württemberg-based lawmaker. “No one benefits if people go underground in border areas and then look for another crossing point.