Protest against deportations to Afghanistan at Leipzig Airport: The German interior ministers’ disastrous understanding of the law

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On 24 July, Federal Minister of the Interior Alexander Dobrindt (CSU) was publicly rebuked by the Federal Constitutional Court. “The Federal Constitutional Court has declared the Federal Ministry of the Interior’s blanket withdrawal from the resettlement programme for Afghan refugees to be arbitrary. ‘The revocation of visas that have been granted must be examined on a case-by-case basis,’ the court stated. It was not only *Die Zeit* that reported on this. But the arbitrariness does not end with the suspension of admissions sought by Dobrindt. It continues with the deportations to Afghanistan.

German interior ministers clearly see no problem in sending people back to this Taliban-controlled country. That is hardly what one would call decency.

“Today’s ruling by the Federal Constitutional Court must come as a shock to the federal government. Germany’s highest court has officially confirmed that Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt is acting arbitrarily in decisions concerning life and death,” commented Clara Bünger, deputy chair and spokesperson on home affairs and refugee policy for The Left parliamentary group in the Bundestag, on the Federal Constitutional Court’s ruling.

“We have said it from the outset: the Federal Government was not entitled to revoke admission commitments across the board. Anyone who promises protection to people because of their commitment to democracy, human rights and women’s rights has a duty to fulfil that promise. The Federal Government must act. It must immediately honour all commitments that were unlawfully withdrawn and bring those affected to safety without delay. Any further delay puts these people in greater danger.

In its ruling, the guardians of the Constitution had to explicitly remind ‘Minister of Rejection’ Dobrindt of the rule of law enshrined in the Basic Law, the guarantee of human dignity and the resulting right of every single person to be treated with respect and dignity, so that he might abandon his course of blatant law-breaking. Following the numerous court rulings against his unlawful and costly refusals of entry at the border, this marks yet another low point in Alexander Dobrindt’s career, which has been full of them. Never before has there been such a miscast choice for the post of Minister of the Interior.”

Night-time protest at Leipzig/Halle Airport

During the night of 27 to 28 July, a demonstration took place at Leipzig/Halle Airport against the deportation of Afghan people. Despite the event being brought forward at short notice, over 260 people gathered at the terminal from 10.00 pm onwards to protest against the deportation flight. A particularly large number of people from the Afghan community were present. In doing so, they sent a strong message in support of diversity and a society based on solidarity, and against the German government’s deals with the Taliban. Deals that are deeply inhumane and also violate the law

“I couldn’t sleep properly this week because I was so scared! What if the police came to my door?!” explained a representative from Leipzig’s Afghan community in an impromptu speech.

Nasima Haidari, a spokesperson for the coalition of anti-racist groups that had called for the protest, expressed her outrage at the German government’s cooperation with the Taliban: “The German government is making itself dependent on the Taliban to enforce its deportation policy. It’s a disgrace! The Taliban oppress and persecute minorities, women, opponents of the regime and journalists. Instead of relying on cooperation with the Taliban, the focus should be on protecting human rights and ensuring the safety of those affected.”

Saxony’s Minister for the Interior goes even further

Until a week ago, the federal government justified its deportation practices by claiming that only people with criminal records would be deported whilst in custody. A few days ago, Saxony’s Minister for the Interior, Armin Schuster (CDU), went one step further and publicly advocated deportations regardless of criminal offences. That would amount to sheer arbitrariness. But arbitrariness has no place in a constitutional state. Have the conservative interior ministers forgotten this?

“Armin Schuster has blood on his hands! His comments show that the focus on alleged offenders is merely a pretext for carrying out mass racist deportations. In doing so, Germany is effectively normalising deportations to Afghanistan. We demand an immediate halt to deportations!” said Luca Müller, who was also present on behalf of the alliance.

People protested at the airport until 1.45 am. Alongside multilingual speeches by representatives of the Afghan community, speakers included representatives from the Saxon Refugee Council, the Interventionist Left and Widersetzen.

Human rights situation completely ignored

Juliane Nagel, a member of the Saxon state parliament for The Left, also spoke out clearly on Tuesday, 28 July.

It remains unclear, of course, exactly how many people were on board. But the authorities’ secrecy does nothing to improve the situation.

“It is shameful to forcibly return people to a country ruled by the Islamist Taliban regime,” says Juliane Nagel. “It makes no difference whether those affected have committed any offences or not. The human rights situation under the Taliban is disastrous: women and girls are systematically deprived of their rights, minorities and dissidents are persecuted, and people are subjected to arbitrary violence and repression. Furthermore, the economic and social situation is catastrophic. According to a report by the United Nations Development Programme
, three-quarters of the population – 29 million people – are unable to meet their basic needs.”

There can therefore be no question whatsoever of it being a safe country of origin.

And the argument regarding criminality is also hypocritical.

“Deporting people who have served their sentences amounts to double punishment. This is unworthy of a state governed by the rule of law, and certainly not when the Islamist Taliban are being enlisted for this purpose,” Juliane Nagel sums it up.

“It is hard to imagine a greater double standard than the fact that it is the CDU, of all parties, that is pushing ahead with cooperation with the Taliban, and that Saxony’s Minister for the Interior is applauding this. He also applauds the fact that the group of people affected is no longer limited.
This means that all people of Afghan origin who are subject to an enforceable order to leave the country face deportation. In Saxony, this affected a total of 449 people by the end of 2025 (Parliamentary Paper 8/5324
).

We protest in the strongest possible terms against this disregard for human rights principles and Saxony’s involvement in this breach of human rights responsibilities. We demand an end to the use of the airport – which is largely state-owned – for highly problematic deportations to Afghanistan.”