Particle.news
Download on the App Store

Germany’s Constitutional Court Limits Deportation Raids, Warrants Required for Room Searches

Only genuine emergencies permit action without prior judicial approval.

Overview

  • The court ruled that entering a private room in shared asylum housing to seize someone counts as a search when the person’s presence is uncertain, triggering the Basic Law’s judge’s-order requirement.
  • Because no judicial order existed during the 2019 Berlin operation, the man’s right to the inviolability of the home was violated, the justices found.
  • The judgment sets aside the Oberverwaltungsgericht Berlin-Brandenburg’s ruling and remands the case for a new decision.
  • In planned deportations from collective accommodations, authorities must usually obtain a search warrant and may proceed without one only under narrowly defined Gefahr im Verzug.
  • Advocacy groups GFF and Pro Asyl hailed strengthened protections, while the police union warned the added judicial step could slow removals.