Legal Victory: German Federal Constitutional Court Ends Separation of Baby and Parents Over Palestine Solidarity
Berlin, 19th August 2025 – A one-year-old child separated from parents over Palestine solidarity is finally allowed to re-enter Germany, according to the German Federal Constitutional Court ruling on 5th of August 2025, after a successful urgent appeal by the European Legal Support Center (ELSC).
The court ruling means the German authorities are now obliged to allow the re-entry of the one-year-old child to Germany, after being separated for months from his Palestinian-Jordanian mother-a skilled worker in Germany with a valid visa permit- and forced to stay with his grandparents in Jordan.
The case dates back to August 2024 when the baby was denied re-entry to Germany after he was initially deemed as a “security threat” in a letter from the German Embassy in Amman. Later, the German foreign ministry argued this was because of the mother’s alleged involvement with Palestine solidarity groups and an ongoing investigation by notorious German domestic intelligence service “Verfassungsschutz” (Office for the Protection of the Constitution). The ministry said while the child does not constitute a security threat to Germany, allowing the child to re-enter Germany could possibly constitute a “security risk”. This reasoning was accepted in two previous decisions by the Higher Administrative Court Berlin-Brandenburg and the Administrative Court Berlin.
Three judges at the Constitutional Court have now decided unanimously that “..the continued refusal to allow entry exposes the complainant [the child], given his age of not even two years, to significant, irreparable harm” and ordered the Federal Republic of Germany to allow the child to enter the country. Furthermore, the court acknowledged that the previous decisions at administrative courts might constitute a breach of constitutional rights, namely the fundamental right to protection of the family (Article 6(1) and (2) sentence 1 of the German constitution).
With this decision the family can now finally reunite after months of inhumane treatment and barely legal exploitation of migration laws.
However, this is just a preliminary decision on the urgent appeal. The final ruling on the constitutional complaint will decide whether such separations of child and parents with unclear residency status constitutes a breach of constitutional rights, namely the fundamental right to protection of the family (Article 6(1) and (2) sentence 1 of the German constitution) or not. The decision on the parents’ residency status is also still pending at the administrative courts due to the secret services procrastination to conclude the “security investigation”.
ELSC spokesperson Karim Bohnhoff comments: “This is an important ruling because we managed to end the family’s separation —something no one should ever have to endure. We hope this ruling will deter the German state from abusing migration laws to punish marginalised communities for their involvement in the Palestine solidarity movement and we will continue to push for a systematic change.”
