Germany's border controls erode core EU rights

A Syrian refugee, award-winning journalist and human rights advocate has filed a complaint to the Administrative Court in Stuttgart, challenging an unlawful, violent and seemingly racially motivated border control by German officers at the French border. With the support of the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR), Society for Civil Rights (GFF) and European Network Against Racism (ENAR), the complainant asks the court to confirm the illegal nature of the control. These measures violate fundamental rights under German law, as well as founding principle of EU law, namely the right to move freely in the Schengen zone. 

In June 2025, Alloush was on a train headed to Germany for a regular work trip. Shortly after leaving Strasbourg, the train crossed the border from France and officers came on board. Alloush showed her French residency permit and a document which confirmed the renewal of her passport, but the officers insisted she could not enter without a passport. She was forced off the train, and asked to come to the police station, even though she was not under arrest. Alloush tried to assert her rights, but officers grabbed and pushed her, inflicting pain and threatening to break her arm. At the police station she was strip searched, detained, and ultimately made to walk back to France. Alloush experienced immediate physical pain and continues to suffer psychologically from the consequences. She filed the complaint to the Administrative Court on 26 November 2025.

EU law and jurisprudence say that a member state may reintroduce controls at its internal borders only as an exception and in the event of a serious threat to public order or internal security. This measure should be a last resort, not exceed what is strictly necessary and can only be extended if that situation persists (Article 25 Schengen Borders Code). None of these conditions were met at the French-German border. The German government argues that alarming developments at the borders required the reintroduction of controls which is not, however, backed up by available statistics.

Alloush's experiences form part of a systematic pattern of racialized policing at German and European internal borders. Under the pretext of addressing so-called irregular migration, Germany has been adopting techniques of racial profiling and violence targeting racialized migrants but also racialized European citizens and residents.

This complaint follows in a series of legal interventions on European border violence by ECCHR. It is also one of a number of cases supported by GFF to challenge German internal border controls.