The Berlin Administrative Court on Monday ruled that the rejection of asylum seekers at border controls is unlawful unless carried out under the EU's Dublin procedure.

The urgent decision is a blow to Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who has pledged to crack down on migration. Shortly after taking office last month, Chancellor Merz's government advised police that they could turn back irregular migrants at the border, even if they applied for asylum. 

What do we know about the case?

The ruling came in the case of three Somali nationals who were turned back to Poland on May 9 under the new German regulation.

The court said such rejections bypass the necessary legal steps and violate asylum rights.

"Persons who express the wish to seek asylum while at a border check on German territory may not be sent back" before it is known which country is responsible for processing the claim under the EU's so-called "Dublin" system, the court said. 

The three Somalis — two men and a woman — had arrived in Germany by train from Poland on May 9.

The Federal Police stopped them at the railway station in Frankfurt an der Oder, in the eastern state of Brandenburg.

The three said they wanted to apply for asylum in Germany. However, they were returned to Poland the same day. The police justified this by arguing that they had entered from a safe third country.

However, the court also ruled that "the petitioners cannot demand to be allowed into" Germany, adding that the Dublin asylum procedures "can be carried out at or close to the border."

How has the government responded?

Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt, who is responsible for implementing the migration policy, said Monday evening that the ruling only applied to the case in question, and that the government would stick to its migration policy.

Shortly after taking office last month, Chancellor Merz's government advised police that they could turn back irregular migrants at the border, even if they applied for asylum. 

"We will continue with the pushbacks," Dobrindt said in a statement, adding that "we think we have the legal justification for this."

Dobrindt added that the interior ministry would provide more detailed justifications for the pushbacks, as requested by the court.

The interior minister said that the migrants in question had attempted to cross the border three times, and only on the third attempt, did they invoke the right to asylum. 

A crackdown on irregular migration was a central pledge in Merz’s campaign ahead of February's general election.

That vote saw the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) achieve its best-ever result, winning just over 20% of the vote. Merz has since argued that decisive action on migration is essential to stopping the AfD's rise.

Merz migration policy criticized

After Monday's ruling, Germany's environmentalist Green Party, now in opposition, said that the court's decision backed up their stance that Merz's migration policy was bound to fail. 

"This is a severe defeat for the federal government and should serve as a warning to abide by the law in the future and not knowingly exceed its own powers for populist purposes," Greens lawmaker Irene Mihalic told the Rheinische Post newspaper.

"The border blockades were a rejection of the European Dublin system and have offended our European neighbors."

Karl Kopp, managing director of German pro-immigration advocacy group Pro Asyl, told the Rheinische Post that Interior Minister Dobrindt's "unlawful practice of national unilateral action in asylum policy has failed."

Last week, Dobrindt said he was hoping for a European Union (EU) agreement on a proposal to send failed asylum-seekers to "return hubs" in safe third countries. 

The European Commission has also proposed a scheme to allow member states to reject asylum applications from migrants who have passed through a "safe" third country before entering the EU. The proposals have yet to pass in the European Parliament or be adopted by national governments. 

What is the Dublin Regulation?

The Dublin Regulation is an EU law that determines which EU country is responsible for the application.

However, under the rules, police are not allowed to simply turn asylum seekers back at the border.

Instead, German authorities must initiate a complicated procedure to transfer them back to the country where they first entered the EU.

The first EU country where an asylum seeker enters and where fingerprints are taken is usually responsible for the claim.

The idea is that it ensures that a person doesn't apply for asylum in several EU countries simultaneously.

The system has been criticized for putting too much burden on EU external border countries like Greece and Italy, which are often the first entry points.

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Edited by: Wesley Rahn