Refugees find sanctuary: Church asylum hits 40‑year high
In Germany, the number of refugees seeking asylum in churches due to fear of deportation is on the rise. In 2023, the cases reached the highest level in four decades, totaling 1,500 people.
What you need to know
- Increasing deportation pressure: In many German towns, the number of asylum requests made in churches has quadrupled. Refugees are turning to churches for shelter to avoid deportation.
- Lack of central records: Churches do not keep nationwide records of asylum cases; the data is compiled from feedback provided by individual parishes.
- Church asylum as a tradition: Although there is no legal foundation, church asylum is tolerated by the state as a temporary protective measure for refugees.
“The number of requests has risen significantly in many places as a result of increased pressure to deport, with requests sometimes more than quadrupling,” a spokeswoman for the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD) told the dpa agency.
She explained that churches do not maintain centralized records of asylum cases. The estimates are based on selective feedback from individual regional churches.
Church asylum in Germany
Church asylum in Germany lacks a legal basis but is tolerated by the state as a form of temporary protection. This tradition allows refugees to avert deportation and provides time for their cases to be reconsidered by immigration authorities.
In 2023, the number of people utilizing this solution was the highest in four decades, reaching 1,500 people.
According to data from the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees, in the first quarter of 2025, Protestant, Catholic, and independent churches recorded 617 cases of church asylum.
