Overview
- The EU’s new Common European Asylum System (GEAS) is in force and requires mandatory screening of people who irregularly enter the EU to record identity, biometrics, health and security checks.
- Germany’s law lets federal states create Sekundärmigrationszentren, but only Saxony-Anhalt, Saxony and Hamburg have agreed to set them up so far, while several states have declined or are still studying the plan.
- Saxony will convert its existing Landesausreisezentrum in Dresden into a Sekundärmigrationszentrum that opens on 1 July with space for about 400 people to be held under an obligation to remain on site.
- Saxony-Anhalt plans a Halberstadt centre for up to 150 people this summer with fencing and a small guard hut as part of a conversion of its existing reception site.
- Human-rights groups and legal experts warn the centres can closely resemble detention depending on design, officials say residents are not actively physically barred from leaving but breaches of residence rules can lead to court-ordered detention or fines and states are pressing the federal government to take a central role in returns.