Germany is poised to strip rejected asylum seekers of their right to a lawyer in a bid to accelerate deportations, according to reports. Chancellor Friedrich Merz will reportedly abolish a rule which automatically assigns a lawyer to asylum seekers waiting to be deported, including those who have lost their last appeal.
Alexander Thom, an MP from Mr Merz’s Christian Democrats (CDU), said the German government wants the deportation rate to increase, but many fail in part because of legal obstacles. He said deportations must be possible in practice as well as on paper.
Mr Thom told the Telegraph: “The abolition of mandatory legal counsel is one of several building blocks for the Merz government’s change in course on migration.”
He claimed the rule pushed through by the previous coalition government in 2024 made deportations even more difficult.
Some experts warned the move to scrap the rule could result in asylum seekers being detained unlawfully because their cases lack legal scrutiny.
German refugee rights group, Pro Asyl, condemned the proposal as undemocratic and “constitutionally questionable”.
Mr Merz’s government has been cracking down on migration since he took office in May. The latest proposal will be put to a vote in the German parliament.
That same month, Berlin announced it would reject asylum seekers at its border.
In July, Germany’s interior minister, Alexander Dobrindt, agreed goals with other EU counterparts to remove legal obstacles to the transferring of rejected asylum seekers to centres outside the bloc.
Germany, Poland, France, Austria, the Czech Republic and Denmark also want to enable asylum procedures to be carried out in third countries. The asylum plans need to be approved by Brussels.
According to German government statistics, the number of asylum applications filed in the country between January and July this year stood at about 70,000, a 50% decrease compared with the same period last year.
In the UK, legal aid is available for asylum cases. The Government announced in July that it would increase funding for immigration and housing legal aid fees to help people facing homelessness and to speed up asylum processing.
Once fully implemented, the increase will amount to £20million per year, according to the UK Government.
