Overview

• After 49 interventions in 2024 and 38 in 2023, the Evangelische Kirche in Mitteldeutschland reports only 13 church asylum cases in Sachsen-Anhalt to date.
• The Bundesamt für Migration und Flüchtlinge has recorded 2,386 church asylum cases nationwide this year, an increase of more than 300 from 2024.
• Alexander Throm of the CDU warns that nearly all these cases involve transfers under the Dublin regulation, alleging that prolonged sanctuary undermines EU asylum law.
• Church representatives argue that each asylum intervention is assessed on humanitarian grounds, emphasizing family hardship and trauma in countries of origin.
• Federal migration data show that only one intervention has been formally recognized as a special hardship case in 2025, underscoring the informal nature of the practice.