Germany’s highest administrative court has ruled that migrants who received asylum protection in another European Union country can still be deported to their home country if Germany rejects their asylum application.
The Federal Administrative Court in Leipzig issued the decision Thursday, clarifying a legal question that had divided lower courts across the country. The ruling centered on two Iraqi men who had earlier been granted protection in Greece, one as a recognized refugee, the other under subsidiary protection, a status for people facing serious harm who don’t fully qualify as refugees.
Both men later traveled to Germany and applied for asylum again. German immigration authorities rejected their applications and issued deportation warnings back to Iraq. The men challenged those decisions, arguing that returning to Greece would expose them to inhuman or degrading treatment. Lower courts in Cologne and Stuttgart had reached conflicting conclusions in similar cases, creating confusion about the law.
The Leipzig court sided with the government, ruling that the deportation warnings were lawful. Judges relied on a June 2024 European Court of Justice decision stating that Germany is not required to automatically honor protection status granted by another EU country. If that country fails to properly fulfill its responsibilities toward the protected person, Germany may issue its own deportation orders.
This means individuals could ultimately be sent back to their country of origin, not just to the EU country that first accepted them.
The ruling builds on a similar decision from last year, when the same court found that deporting single young male refugees to Greece was permissible because conditions there did not violate EU human rights standards.
Legal experts say the judgment will likely shape how Germany handles future asylum cases involving migrants who move between EU countries after receiving protection elsewhere.
The decision highlights ongoing tensions within Europe’s asylum system, where member states frequently disagree over who bears responsibility for migrants crossing borders in search of better conditions.
