A Yazidi family with four underage children from Brandenburg has been deported to Iraq - even though they were successful with an urgent appeal against the threat of deportation on the same day. A spokesperson for the Brandenburg Ministry of the Interior said that the family was deported on a flight from Leipzig on Tuesday. The Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (Bamf) is responsible for the asylum procedure, while the state of Thuringia is responsible for the deportation. On Tuesday, the Potsdam Administrative Court overturned a decision that the family had to leave the country. This was previously reported by Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (RBB).
The Federal Office explained that each case would be examined individually to determine whether protection would be granted in accordance with the Asylum Act. "Integration achievements, as praiseworthy as they are, must not be taken into account," a spokesperson told the German Press Agency. "The granting of protection titles is exclusively about the danger that applicants face if they return to their country of origin." However, integration achievements could play a role in the decision on tolerated stay. However, the Federal Office could not make any statements on this due to a lack of information.
Court initially rejects urgent appeal
The family of six, who according to RBB had been living in Lychen in the Uckermark since 2022, appealed against the rejection of their application for international protection and the threat of deportation before the administrative court in 2023. As the claims for refugee protection or subsidiary protection obviously did not exist in the opinion of the Bamf, the asylum application was rejected as manifestly unfounded. This resulted in an obligation to leave the country for one week. Subsidiary protection applies if neither refugee protection nor asylum entitlement can be granted and there is a threat of serious harm.
The family wanted to obtain suspensive effect for their appeal by means of an urgent application, which was rejected by the administrative court in April 2023. This meant that the family was obliged to leave the country regardless of the outcome of the appeal. In April 2025, the court heard the appeal for international protection. The family has not yet been served with the judgment.
Family successful in court
On Tuesday, the family filed an urgent application with the administrative court to change the urgent decision from April 2023. However, the deportation by flight had already begun. According to Flightradar, the plane took off at 10.52 am. According to a spokesperson, the court overturned the earlier decision at 3.30 p.m. because it had doubts due to new circumstances that the Bamf's refusal of refugee protection as manifestly unfounded was lawful.
The court assumed that the need for legal protection still existed because it assumed that the deportation had not been completed and the family had not yet left the Baghdad airport transit zone. The Bamf received the application at 12.17 pm. The Brandenburg Ministry of the Interior had asked the Federal Office before the deportation whether there were any reasons against it, which according to the Ministry was denied. It was initially unclear at what point this was.
Security situation in Iraq tense
The Bundestag had recognized crimes committed by the Islamic State (IS) terrorist militia against the Yazidis in 2014 as genocide in 2023. The terrorist militia aimed to annihilate the minority living mainly in the northern Iraqi Sinjar region. Tens of thousands of people were killed, abducted, enslaved and abused. The security situation in Iraq remains tense after decades of war and political unrest. The deportation flight from Leipzig to Baghdad brought 43 people to Iraq on Tuesday.
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