Germany Separates Mother from Infant Over Palestinian Activism, Calls Baby “security threat”

Berlin (Quds News Network)- A Palestinian-Jordanian mother with German residency has been separated from her one-year-old son after German authorities labeled her child a “security threat,” according to a report by Middle East Eye.

Dima*, a trained nurse, moved to Germany from Jordan in 2017. In 2023, she gave birth to her first child. A year later, she and her husband traveled with their son to Jordan so their families could meet the baby. But when they tried to return to Germany in August 2024, authorities denied re-entry to the child, claiming he posed a security risk.

According to the European Legal Support Centre (ELSC), which is supporting her case, this is one of the harshest examples yet of how German authorities are weaponising residency to repress Palestinian solidarity.

“The German state systematically exploits residence, asylum, and citizenship laws to punish already marginalized communities,” said an ELSC spokesperson. “To label a one-year-old a ‘security threat’ marks a grotesque new low.”

At first, the German embassy in Jordan told the family it was a bureaucratic issue. But months later, letters from Germany’s migration office confirmed the refusal stemmed from an ongoing investigation, targeting not the child, but Dima herself.

She learned that Verfassungsschutz, Germany’s domestic intelligence agency, had launched a probe against her over her alleged involvement in Palestinian advocacy, including legal activities linked to Samidoun Deutschland, a solidarity group banned in 2023.

Dima says she never broke any law.
“I always went to authorized demonstrations. I always registered actions in advance,” she said. “They just want to silence my voice.”

Her lawyer, Ebru Akcan Asilturk, believes German authorities exploited a loophole in her son’s temporary residency documents to trap the family in Jordan, then used that as cover to isolate Dima from her child.

In February 2025, a Berlin court ruled that the child’s return was not urgent. The court said the parents could visit him in Jordan, or stay with him there, effectively forcing the family to choose between parenthood and residency.

For nine months, Dima and her husband took turns staying with their son while trying to protect their life and legal status in Germany. “He started calling anyone in the street ‘papa’… he lost the connection,” Dima said tearfully.

The ELSC has now filed a case with Germany’s Federal Constitutional Court, challenging the family’s treatment. Meanwhile, a higher administrative court is reviewing the appeal.

“I know I’m not the only one,” Dima said. “Others didn’t have the support to fight this. I just happened to be the one who could.”

Dima is the first in her family born outside Palestine; her mother’s family was displaced in 1948, and her father’s in 1967. She always dreamed of returning to Palestine, but says the activism she did in Germany, even under repression, made her feel closer to home.

“Sometimes, during the chants, I felt like I was in Palestine,” she said. “But this separation… this is the hardest part.”