Hamburg's mayor makes serious allegations: Kai Wegner allegedly prevented the deportation of Afghans

There is a heated dispute between the governments of Hamburg and Berlin over asylum issues. This, at least, is the message from the Hanseatic city's First Mayor, Peter Tschentscher ( SPD ), to Governing Mayor Kai Wegner ( CDU ). The letter, titled "Abuse of Church Asylum," is dated July 15, 2025. The Berliner Zeitung has obtained a copy. Upon request, the spokesperson for the Hamburg Senate Chancellery, Christopher Harms, confirmed the authenticity and dispatch of the letter.

In it, SPD politician Tschentscher calls on his CDU counterpart Wegner to transfer four people enjoying church asylum in Berlin to Hamburg, arguing that his city is responsible for their repatriation to Sweden. Apparently, the people of Hamburg feel they are not receiving sufficient support from Berlin.

According to information from this newspaper, the people are Afghans who are being housed in the Protestant Trinity Congregation in Berlin-Stegnitz. However, Pastor Gottfried Martens speaks of "three people in our church asylum, for whom the Hamburg immigration authorities are responsible." They are devout converted Christians. If they are deported to Afghanistan, they face "imminent danger to their lives and limb."

SPD politician Tschentscher: “unacceptable”

In his letter, Tschentscher writes that the rule of law is being attacked in a variety of ways. For example, there is "a systematic abuse of church asylum, with refugees being admitted to church premises whose right to remain has already been reviewed under the rules of church asylum and whose obligation to return to another EU member state has been legally established."

We're talking about so-called Dublin cases. These are people whose asylum procedures would be the responsibility of the EU member state where they were first registered. The people would then be returned to a safe country. However, church asylum, which is actually intended for hardship cases, makes this considerably more difficult. It's intended to protect against life-threatening situations in the home country, for example.

In fact, according to Tschentscher, no people who are particularly in need of protection or whose right to asylum has not been sufficiently clarified are being accepted – but rather refugees “for whom there is a binding commitment to carry out the asylum procedure by the EU country responsible for them”.

This also applies to the individuals in the Berlin church congregation. Tschentscher writes that the Hamburg immigration authorities are responsible for the transfer to Sweden. It is "unacceptable that the transfer of several individuals under the Dublin III Regulation is currently being thwarted by a Berlin church congregation." In all cases, the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) examined and rejected the submitted "hardship cases." Search warrants for the transfer have been issued by the Tiergarten District Court for each of the individuals. A court spokeswoman did not respond to a request for comment.

According to Tschentscher, a request for administrative assistance from his Office for Migration to the Berlin police for a planned July 3 transfer of three of the individuals to Sweden was rejected. The reason given was "political directives." What exactly this means remains unclear. The Berlin Senate Chancellery declined to comment on the letter. Senate spokesperson Christine Richter stated that they "as a matter of principle" do not provide information about letters they receive.

Meanwhile, the Hamburg government leader points out that the transfer deadline has already expired in two cases. This means that Germany is now responsible for the asylum procedures. "The disregard of court orders by state authorities is a severe blow to the rule of law," writes Tschentscher. "The collaboration between church congregations and the Berlin police in this case is hindering the enforcement of law and order." He asks his counterpart Wegner to "end the Berlin police's practices and the underlying political directives and to support the Hamburg authorities." This applies to the cases for which the transfer deadline is still pending.

Pastor Martens told the Berliner Zeitung that the BAMF "examined the hardship files from a formal legal perspective, but expressly not from a substantive perspective, and therefore did not address our substantive arguments in its decision." He added that the vast majority of hardship files are rejected. Therefore, the decision was no surprise.

Berlin's Interior Ministry: "We are not breaking church asylum"

A copy of the letter is said to have also been sent to Berlin's Interior Senator Iris Spranger (SPD). However, the Senate Department for the Interior and Sport has not yet received a letter from Hamburg, spokesperson Sabine Beikler told this newspaper. However, the issue is known – and the story has a history. There has been contact at the technical level between the two interior ministries.

According to Beikler, the Hamburg Interior Ministry, after consultations with its Berlin colleagues, can execute search warrants issued by the Tiergarten District Court in the capital city itself. However, the residents of Hamburg apparently did not want this and instead requested administrative assistance. This was refused, according to Beikler. The reason given was: "We are not violating church asylum." And this was made very clear to the Hamburg authorities.

The Berlin police are also surprised by the harsh tone coming from the Hanseatic city – and not just because one mayor wrote to another. Because such a matter is actually the responsibility of the interior senators.

The Berlin police are also surprised by the actions of their Hamburg colleagues. They backed down, says a high-ranking officer. The Berlin police offered to secure the area around the church's buildings. "But we won't go into the sacred spaces. The Hamburg colleagues didn't want that either."