Plans to build new asylum processing center at Berlin airport draw ire

The center in question is reportedly intended to ensure that the increasing number of migrants entering and leaving Germany are dealt with in an orderly manner. 

However, the center at the Berlin-Brandenburg airport is likely to serve other purposes as well, including facilitating the so-called "airport procedure."

According to the Federal Office for Migration and refugees (BAMF), the airport procedure entails the asylum procedure being carried out in special cases "before the Federal Police decide whether an individual may enter the country."

This means that if prospective applicants are unable to identify themselves with a valid passport after having orally requested protection, or if they come from what is deemed a safe country of origin, they will be processed in the transit area of the airport.

Stuck in transit

This can happen for example when prospective asylum seekers destroy their identity papers on board a flight so they can assume a false identity upon arrival, or when they use a fake document upon arrival, which does not reflect names on the passenger list of the flight.

In these rare cases, an asylum decision has to be issued within two days, and that decision is -- due to the lack of documentation and identity papers -- oftentimes negative. 

However, there are appeals that can be lodged, which can drag this procedure out to a total duration of 19 days. 

The asylum applicant must remain in the airport transit area until a final ruling has been handed down, with a minimum of facilities -- such as a bed and a shower -- made available during this time.

Critics compare such facilities to prisons, as people are deprived of the liberty to move about freely while living under spartan conditions.