At three in the morning, the police knocked on the window of Hasan A.'s apartment in the Bavarian town of Miltenberg. There were six or seven cars outside, Hasan tells "Süddeutsche Zeitung". They asked the man if he knew Hayat A.? When he answered in the affirmative and said that this was his mother, the police announced that she had to be extradited from Germany.
This happened on the night of March 25 to 26, just a few hours after it was discovered that the woman had metastases in her liver. "In an advanced stage", explains Hasan. He tried to explain to the police that his mother was not well, that deportation was impossible. The woman suffered from abdominal pain and high blood pressure. An ambulance was called and took the woman to hospital. But just six hours later, Hayat A. was on a plane to Bulgaria - deported directly from the hospital.
From a legal point of view, the case is clear
The woman's case is quite clear from a legal point of view, emphasizes “Süddeutsche Zeitung“. At the beginning of 2024, she arrived in the EU via Bulgaria - that is, Bulgaria is responsible for her asylum application, although her real destination was Germany - where her two sons settled. In this situation, however, her asylum application in Germany was doomed from the start.
On September 30, the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees in Germany rejected the application, and the subsequent appeal was also rejected. Anyone who does not have the right to asylum is obliged to leave the country – regardless of whether they have cancer or not. Hayat A. is 61 years old and seriously ill. She has already had cancer once, suffers from asthma and a herniated disc. As her son tells the German publication, the woman could not even go to the toilet on her own. On the day of deportation, she hears the second terrible diagnosis: metastases in the liver, surgery is urgently needed, the doctors say.
This is how the woman with cancer was deported from the hospital to Bulgaria – a country that has been criticized for its attitude towards refugees for years, notes the Süddeutsche Zeitung. However, does Germany have the right to deport a seriously ill woman? Or is it even obliged to do so, since such are the provisions of the Dublin Agreement? There is also another question – Do deportations affect the weakest because they are the most vulnerable and cannot defend themselves before the authorities?
"They were really brutal"
Hasan A. complains to the German publication about the police: "They were really brutal". The officers forbade him to accompany his mother in the ambulance, and they did not allow him to follow her in his car. He was also forbidden to enter the clinic until the morning – they only allowed him in when the mother was already on her way to the airport in Frankfurt. He was not told where the woman would be placed in Bulgaria – he learned this two days later from the family's lawyer.
Robin Maitra from the association “Socially Responsible Doctors“ notes to the “Süddeutsche Zeitung“ that people undergoing treatment have a special need for protection. That is why deportations from hospitals are prohibited in some German states. In Bavaria, this is not the case - but deportation is only possible with the consent of the clinic. The medical institution where Hayat A. was treated refused to make a statement, but the Bavarian Interior Ministry claims that everything was done according to the rules. It was checked whether the woman could be transported, then she was taken to the airport. The ministry also points out that relatives are not allowed to accompany patients in the ambulance.
“Süddeutsche Zeitung“ writes that according to German law, a ban on extradition can only be imposed “in the case of diseases that are life-threatening or that could seriously worsen during extradition“. This could be the case, for example, if the country to which the person is being sent does not guarantee adequate healthcare. The Federal Office for Migration and Refugees has assessed that medical standards in Bulgaria are “sufficient”. And when it rejected Hayat A.'s asylum application in October, the information about the woman's second cancer was not yet known – that is, it was not taken into account.
“The authorities no longer take the condition of individuals into account”, Jana Weidhase from the Bavarian Refugee Council told “Süddeutsche Zeitung”. In early March, Bavaria deported a Pakistani man who had been left half-paralysed after several strokes. In response to a complaint to the authorities, they replied that the Office for Migration and Refugees is the one that makes the decisions – Bavaria was only an executor.
Deficits in the Bulgarian asylum system
But this is not exactly how the data shows, the German publication notes. In 2024, Germany sent 8,090 requests to Bulgaria for the return of refugees. In 3,297 cases, the answer was positive, but only 290 were deported. “The migration authorities, which are subordinate to the Interior Ministry, can choose who to deport“, explains Weidhase.
“Süddeutsche Zeitung“ reported that in Bulgaria, Hayat A. was placed in the “Military Ramp“ refugee center, where, according to the non-governmental organization “Mateo“, only emergency assistance is provided. In the meantime, the Administrative Court in Würzburg is ruling on the case and reaching a different decision than the Migration Office. It states that there are significant deficiencies in the Bulgarian asylum system that could justify a ban on Hayat A.'s deportation. Thanks to this court decision, Hayat A. returned to Germany on May 5.