ABSTRACT
The chapter examines how in fact the Auslanderbehorde can be a site of intense political conflict and how the offices have to negotiate with a number of parties that attempt to exert influence over the way they fulfil their role as migration management agencies of the Federal Republic of Germany. However, the immigration offices exist within a network of other organisations and actors, even if scholars of public administration and street-level bureaucracy have tended to view their case studies as if in a vacuum. Of course, most supporters of the sea change interpretation of the 2005 Residence Act acknowledged that part of the work of the immigration offices was still to enable the deportation of those migrants who had no possibility of obtaining a legal residence permit. While evaluating the general work practice of immigration offices is not part of the court's job description, the judges were genuinely concerned and interested.
