Refugees | Borderline asylum procedure

Where does Germany begin? View of the so-called external border facility at BER Airport Photo: dpa/Jens Kalaene A low-rise building with beds for 40 people, a tiny playground with a sandpit and just a few steps to the fence that prevents refugees from moving freely in the Federal Republic. Fictionally, this is the external border of the EU in the middle of Germany at the capital airport BER in Schönefeld. Anyone who hides their identity so that they cannot be deported so easily, or who has their home somewhere where there is no war, has to wait here until they perhaps get asylum. But it is much more likely that you will be put on a plane back home.

"Often the de facto entry without the right to stay has developed into staying." This should now end, said Brandenburg's Interior Minister Jan Redmann (CDU) in June. At that time, this so-called external border facility was opened and more than 70 journalists from home and abroad reported on it - the Arabic broadcaster Al Jazeera, Slovenian television, colleagues from Denmark and Sweden. “It is and remains wrong to lock people up for residency reasons,” criticized Rola Saleh from the Brandenburg Refugee Council.

The Cottbus administrative court has now stopped the asylum border procedure for a family with three children and a sick man, the Pro Asyl association announced on Friday. According to the court's assessment, it was not ensured that the children and the sick man were adequately cared for. The parents with their ten, twelve and 17-year-old children come from Algeria, as does the single man who, according to Pro Asyl, suffers from physical complaints and mental stress. They were all held in the transit area of ​​BER Airport for more than ten days. Medical help was requested but not provided, Pro Asyl said.

“The acceleration of asylum procedures must not be carried out at the expense of the health of those seeking protection and at the expense of children and families,” demanded lawyer Christoph Tometten. The Algerians are his clients. You are now allowed to enter officially and receive a regular asylum procedure.

"Speed ​​and deterrence count more than human rights in the new border procedures."

“These are not isolated cases,” assured Pro-Asyl managing director Helen Rezene. “There is a system of irresponsibility behind this: speed and deterrence count more than human rights in the new border procedures.” Rezene demanded: “Asylum seekers do not belong behind fences and walls. Border procedures must be completely abolished - and families with children and those in particular need of protection must be exempt from them now.

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