German states have been largely hesitant to act on a new measure approved by the Bundestag last Friday that would allow the creation of secondary migration centres for asylum seekers whose applications, under the Dublin Regulation, are supposed to be processed by another EU country. An RND survey of state officials highlighted this cautious stance.
Verena Schäffer, spokesperson for the Minister of Migration, Refugees and Integration of North Rhine‑Westphalia (Green Party), told RND that “many questions remain unanswered, such as how cooperation with other EU member states would work”. She added that her ministry has been lobbying at the federal level for years to centralise responsibility for so‑called Dublin cases, but “little has happened so far. The federal government still needs to act”.
In the free city‑state of Bremen, Interior Senator Eva Högl (SPD) said that the need for such centres “must first be demonstrated in the concrete implementation of the Common European Asylum System (GEAS)”. For a small state like Bremen, she added, the requirement is not obvious. A similarly measured response came from a spokesperson for Lower Saxony’s Interior Minister, Daniela Behrens (SPD), who said that the state was “basically ready to establish a secondary migration centre, but only if it can provide a genuine added value in the enforcement of return procedures”.
Joachim Herrmann, the Interior Minister of Bavaria (CSU), expressed a willingness to examine the proposal once the necessary legal prerequisites are in place: “Once the legal framework is established, the Bavarian state government will take a closer look at the possibilities”. His spokesman noted that Bavaria would only move forward if the centres could materially improve the return process.
The new law, part of Germany’s national implementation of the Common European Asylum System, allows states to house asylum seekers who have already been granted protection status in another EU country or whose asylum proceedings, according to Dublin rules, fall under another member state’s jurisdiction. Federal legislation gives states the authority to prohibit adult refugees who are subject to deportation from leaving the centres for a period of twelve months. For children and their legal guardians, movement may be restricted during nighttime hours.
After the Bundestag’s decision, internal spokesperson Alexander Throm of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group stated, “We expect that all German states will now establish such centres”. However, as the RND survey shows, many states remain unsure about the practicalities and benefits of setting up secondary migration centres.
