Pro-Palestinian activists face police forces at the university campus of the Free University of Berlin, Germany, May 7, 2024. (Tobias Schwarz/AFP via Getty Images)

(JTA) — Germany is moving to deport four foreign residents of Berlin over their alleged activity at pro-Palestinian protests, in a move that appears likely to test a foundational law enacted in the wake of the Holocaust.

Three of the residents are citizens of the European Union, which normally allows free movement between member states. Kasia Wlaszczyk is a citizen of Poland, and Shane O’Brien and Roberta Murray are citizens of Ireland.

The fourth, Cooper Longbottom, is a 27-year-old U.S. citizen from Seattle who faces a ban from all 29 European countries in the Schengen Zone for two years after leaving Germany.

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German immigration authorities ordered this group’s expulsion based on separate allegations tied to pro-Palestinian demonstrations, including a sit-in at the Berlin central train station, a road blockade and the occupation of a building at the Free University, according to information obtained by the left-wing news organization The Intercept.

The deportation orders say that two of the protesters called a police officer “fascist” — insulting an officer is illegal in Germany — and three demonstrated with groups that chanted “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” a slogan the country outlawed last year as antisemitic. All of them are also accused of “indirectly” supporting Hamas and pro-Hamas organizations in Europe.

They have been given a deadline of April 21 to leave Germany or be forcibly deported.

None of them has been convicted of a crime. A conviction is not required for deportation under German law, but authorities are still expected to provide justifications proportional to the punishment.

As part of this reasoning, three of the deportation orders reference Germany’s “Staatsräson,” or “reason of state.” According to this doctrine, which weighs heavily on German politics, the history of the Holocaust makes it imperative for Germany to defend Israel as a justification for its own existence.

But Staatsräson is not typically used in legal settings. Lawyer Thomas Oberhäuser, who is not involved in the cases, told The Intercept that invoking the principle for deportation proceedings was “impermissible under constitutional law.”

Alexander Gorski, a lawyer who represents two of the people facing deportation, compared their cases to the arrests and deportation of pro-Palestinian activists in the United States, especially those tied to protests at universities.

“From a legal perspective, we were alarmed by the reasoning, which reminded us of the case of Mahmoud Khalil,” Gorski said to The Intercept. Khalil, a recent Columbia University graduate and pro-Palestinian activist who holds a green card, was arrested by ICE in March and is being held in a Louisiana detention facility.

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