Berlin officials are planning to deport four foreign residents after accusing them of involvement in protests against Israel’s war on Gaza. None of the individuals have been convicted of any crimes.
The deportation orders were issued under German migration law, though internal objections from the head of Berlin’s immigration agency show opposition to the move, according to The Intercept. Three of the protesters are from European Union countries, where citizens have the right to move freely within the EU.
Critics are comparing this to how the United States has used deportation to suppress political movements.
“What we’re seeing here is straight out of the far right’s playbook,” Alexander Gorski, a lawyer representing two of the protesters, said. “You can see it in the US and Germany, too: Political dissent is silenced by targeting the migration status of protesters.”
Gorski also pointed out similarities to the case of Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian Columbia University graduate and US permanent resident who was arrested over campus pro-Palestine activism.
Under German migration law, authorities can issue a deportation order without a criminal conviction. However, Thomas Oberhäuser, a legal expert, says the government must prove the decision is proportional to the severity of deportation.
“The key question is: How severe is the threat and how proportionate the response?” said Oberhäuser. “If someone is being expelled simply for their political beliefs, that’s a massive overreach.”
The four protesters are accused of participating in demonstrations, including a sit-in at Berlin’s central train station, a road blockade, and the occupation of a Free University Berlin building in late 2024. None of them are accused of committing vandalism or directly obstructing police. Authorities say they were part of coordinated group actions.
Some of the allegations are minor. Two protesters were accused of calling a police officer a “fascist,” which is a crime in Germany. Three are accused of chanting pro-Palestine slogans, including “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” which Germany outlawed last year. Authorities also claim all four shouted antisemitic or anti-Israel slogans but have not provided specific details.
Two protesters were accused of grabbing an officer’s or another protester’s arm to stop an arrest during a sit-in. One, an Irish citizen named O’Brien, is the only person facing an actual criminal charge—for calling a police officer a “fascist”—but he was acquitted in a Berlin court.
Authorities also claim, without clear evidence, that all four protesters support Hamas, a group Germany classifies as a terrorist organization. Three of the deportation orders cite this accusation as justification for stripping them of their constitutional rights to free speech and assembly in the proceedings.
The protesters have been ordered to leave Germany by April 21, 2025, or they will be forcibly deported.
