BRUSSELS (AP) 鈥� The European Union has moved forward with a vast , aiming to ramp up deportations and ink controversial deals to build detention centers abroad. Rights groups have criticized it, comparing the new regulations to the Trump administration’s .
By green-lighting controversial 鈥渞eturn hubs鈥� outside the 27-nation EU, the regulation represents the EU鈥檚 hardest line on migration so far and has drawn sharp criticism from opponents who warn it will endanger migrants and undermine human rights from Spain to Romania.
鈥淭he new regulation will speed up the return process and increase returns of persons who have no legal right to stay in the EU,鈥� said Nicholas Ioannides, deputy migration minister for Cyprus, which holds the rotating presidency of the 27-nation bloc.
The deal was struck between the EU’s three main institutions 鈥� the European Commission, the European Council and European Parliament 鈥� during a so-called 鈥渢rilogue鈥� Monday evening.
鈥淓urope cannot afford another period of standstill,鈥� said Dutch lawmaker Malik Azmani, who shepherded the regulation through the European Parliament.
鈥淭here is an urgent need for an effective return policy with higher return rates,” he said, adding that only 28% of rejected asylum seekers return to their country of origin, with the majority staying put in the EU. 鈥淭his situation is deeply concerning. It undermines public confidence in our common migration policies.鈥�
Critics compared the regulation to the immigration policies of the Trump administration, which has struck a series of with nations around the world to deport thousands of people to countries that are not their own. The United Kingdom also planned to , but the plan was bogged down in legal red tape and was dropped when a new government came to power in July 2024.
Several EU governments are already in talks with third countries
鈥淎cross the Atlantic, we see the violence and fear created by ICE鈥檚 brutal immigration enforcement,” said Silvia Carter, spokesperson for the Brussels-based Platform for International Cooperation on Undocumented Migrants, referring to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. 鈥淓urope should be learning from the harms of that model, not building its own version of it.鈥�
Law enforcement officers across the bloc no longer need warrants from judges to raid private residences or public institutions like hospitals, she said. 鈥淭he regulation is going to create a draconian detention and deportation machine.”
The provisional agreement will now head to the EU lawmakers and governments, where approval will likely be swift.
鈥淭hese new rules will ensure swifter, simpler, and more effective procedures across the European Union for returning non-EU nationals who have no right to stay, in full respect of international law and fundamental rights,鈥� said Henna Virkkunen, EU commissioner for technology.
EU member nations will soon be able to set up bilateral deals with countries outside the bloc to build deportation centers. At least five EU nations 鈥� Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Denmark and Greece 鈥� are already in talks with third countries, mostly in Africa, to host 鈥渞eturn hubs鈥� on the model of .
鈥淲e are delivering the member states tools in their hands to make those agreements and arrangements with third countries,鈥� Azmani said.
M茅lissa Camara, a lawmaker from the French Green party, said the deal was 鈥渁 historic setback鈥� for human rights in the bloc.
鈥淭he legalization of return hubs outside the European Union, the green light for the detention of minors, home visits inspired by ICE practices: the legal arsenal serving a xenophobic ideology is now complete,鈥� she said.
EU migration policy has steadily shifted to the right
after in some countries in the 2024 elections to the European Parliament. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, from the center-right European People鈥檚 Party coalition, has said that the new measures will prevent a repeat of the 2015 crisis caused by Syria鈥檚 civil war, when about 1 million people arrived to seek asylum.
Fueled by people fleeing conflict and poverty across Africa and the Middle East, the 2015 refugee crisis and successive years of irregular migration to Europe drove a rightward shift in the bloc’s politics not unlike the anti-immigrant sentiment that buoyed a 鈥� 鈥� in the 2024 election in the United States.
After successfully campaigning on tougher migration policies, the winners of that election, the European People鈥檚 Party, the largest political group in the EU, began negotiating migration reform with centrist and left parties only to eventually sidestep them by allying instead with the far right, said Carter, the asylum rights activist. 鈥淭here was quite an unprecedented shift in the European Parliament.”
Advocacy groups warned the regulation would cut deep into the protections granted by the EU fundamental charter on human rights and expose people to risks outside the bloc.
鈥淭his deal will give governments much broader powers to detain and deport people,” said Marta Welander, a spokesperson for the International Rescue Committee, a humanitarian organization. “It looks set to normalize immigration raids, expand the use of detention in prison-like facilities outside EU territory that are essentially legal black holes, and increase the risk of people being deported to countries where they could face persecution, torture or worse.鈥�
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