Last year there were a total of 2,254 refugees in church asylum found. In the majority of cases, deportation was prevented while the special form of protection applied to them. This emerges from the answer to a small question from the AfD parliamentary group in the Bundestag, which is available exclusively to FOCUS online.

The data from the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (Bamf) for the past few years shows that the number of people in church asylum has increased continuously from 2019, with the exception of a Corona dip from 2020 to 2024. Although there was a decrease of around 700 refugees in 2025, the level remains high. This is especially true considering the general fall in the number of newly arrived refugees last year.

Strongest increase in church asylum in North Rhine-Westphalia

In 2025, the most refugees in church asylum were in North Rhine-Westphalia, Hesse and Bavaria. In many federal states there is a sharp decline in the numbers: in Bavaria they have more than tripled, in Hesse the cases have increased almost fivefold. In North Rhine-Westphalia there were almost six times as many people in church asylum in 2025 as in 2019.

How many people are in church asylum in a federal state does not necessarily depend on the size of the state or the number of churches. For example, the Christian state of Baden-Württemberg recorded only 28 people under church protection in 2025 – and is therefore in third-to-last place in a country comparison.

Church asylum blocks deportation in many cases

Another number was also still at a high level in 2025: 2,193 people had their EU deadline expire while they were in church asylum. This means that in the so-called Dublin cases, where people enter the European Union elsewhere and then come to Germany, the Federal Republic becomes responsible for the refugees. In plain language: more than 2000 times a deportation failed for refugees in church asylum.

According to the Ministry of the Interior, it cannot be clearly determined whether the return to the country of entry failed because of church asylum or whether there were other reasons. However, it can be assumed that the special protection was decisive in a large number of cases.

AfD and Union criticize church asylum, Greens defend it

AfD MP Stephan Brandner, who initiated the small question, considers the high number to be “serious”. He explained to FOCUS online: “This effectively undermines the European jurisdiction system in thousands of cases every year – with the approval of the authorities.” Church asylum is in open contradiction to current residence and asylum law and undermines the authority of state decisions. In this way, “the constitutional state is not only weakened, but reduced to absurdity.”

There are also critical voices in the Union. Domestic politician Alexander Throm said last year: “I think the churches are on the wrong side here.” On the one hand, they demanded compliance with EU law, but they themselves undermined it “by leaving people in church asylum for so long that the deadlines have expired.”

The deputy Green Party leader Sven Giegold, however, said last year: “Church asylum is not a violation of the law.” He criticized a “break with church asylum” in some federal states. “Because it is the churches that help the state to respect its own values ​​and laws,” said Giegold. “It is not the churches that are breaking the law, but rather the state is failing its own legal principles at its external borders and in complying with the right to asylum.”

Church asylum is not regulated by law

Church asylum refers to the temporary admission of refugees in church premises who, if deported, would be at risk of life and limb or the violation of their human rights. It is not regulated by law and represents neither a legal nor an actual obstacle to deportation, but is based on a centuries-old Christian tradition of protection. State authorities usually accept the special protection, but there have been cases in recent years repeated evictions and deportations from church asylum.