At the height of the dispute between CDU and CSU over repudiation at the borders, Federal Interior Minister Horst Seehofer (CSU) announced in June – after the CDU leadership led by Chancellor Angela Merkel had made it clear that under no circumstances would she accept a national approach.
On one point, however, the CSU prevailed: On June 18, Seehofer said at a press conference in Munich, „I’ll order immediately when I’m back in Berlin, the federal police, that people who are re-entry ban, immediately be rejected at the border „.
Seehofer made it clear twice how irresponsible he held that rejected asylum seekers, criminals and deported for other reasons, despite their deportation and the concomitant re-entry bans were not rejected – as soon as they stated at the border to seek protection again.
„I say again, that’s scandalous, that was possible for years at all. What should an entry ban, if everyone knows, if he does not keep it, it has no consequences, „said Seehofer back then.
A day later, on June 19, he ordered the federal police subordinated to his ministry to end the situation. Their boss Dieter Romann, who unsuccessfully campaigned for a stronger border protection with the Federal Government for years, immediately sent a letter to his offices. At all internal borders, where temporary border controls exist, „persons with entry bans are to be refused“ immediately „.
The biggest blemish of this measure seems already in this formulation: border controls currently only allows the EU Commission at the Bavarian-Austrian border. At all other land borders, no asylum-seeker who has been deported can still be rejected.
For the simple reason that no one is allowed to stand there whose job it is not to let in deportees – this is what EU law requires according to the interpretation of the EU Commission and the Federal Chancellery.
However, Seehofer and many other politicians of the Union hoped that the possibility of rejection at the Bavarian border section could have a symbolic effect, so that fewer deportees would return.
However, such a deterrent effect has not yet been established. As the federal police WELT announced, „in 2018 an average of 100 people per month were found, against which a travel ban existed.“ Already in the first half of the year, ie before the Seehofer directive, there were on average 100 such attacks per month according to the Federal Police.
Were the rejections actually completed?
How many of the prisoners with entry restriction were then rejected, the Federal Police can not answer exactly on request. But according to the information, it was less than half. Because only „about 43 percent of these persons were detected in the context of border controls“, ie at the border section to Austria and the airports and seaports – only there there are currently border controls.
The other half have been taken up in the country, with them a rejection is out of the question anyway, because it consists precisely in denying an unauthorized entry that has not yet occurred; this is only possible at the border. But what happened to the 43 percent of the monthly average of 100 foreigners who were found at the borders with re-entry ban?
„In 2018, in 84 percent of the cases, it was decided that the persons identified in the course of border checks should be rejected,“ the Federal Police said. However, no statement could be made as to whether the rejections could actually be carried out.
For example, it is conceivable „that a refusal could not be carried out due to a non-existent consent of the host state“. In addition, „in the case of a later request for protection, a refusal could for the time being be refrained from and the persons forwarded to the competent authorities for examination“.
