Germany’s top court has ruled that police cannot enter refugees’ homes or shelters to carry out deportations without a court warrant.
The decision follows a 2019 case in which Berlin police broke down the door of a Guinean asylum seeker’s room in a shelter after he did not open it during a planned deportation under the EU’s Dublin Regulation.
According to court documents, officers entered without a judicial warrant and also seized the man’s wallet and mobile phone to gather information about his case.
With support from Germany’s Society for Civil Rights and Pro Asyl, the man challenged the operation.
The Federal Constitutional Court ruled the raid unconstitutional, confirming that police cannot search refugees’ rooms without a court warrant.
