The European Union is at a critical juncture in migration and asylum policy in decades: thanks to the emergence of a new far-right coalition map within the European Parliament, the return regulation has been given the final green light.
The law establishes draconian measures that begin with the legalization of controversial "return centers" outside the bloc's geographical boundaries, and end with home raids and extended periods of judicial detention, amid sharp political division and human rights warnings against the normalization of practices that violate basic human rights and legal guarantees for migrants.
European Parliament approves new deportation law
The European Parliament on Wednesday (June 17th) finally approved a new law aimed at speeding up the return and deportation of migrants who do not have a legal right to remain within the European Union. The legislation passed by 418 votes to 218 against, while 30 abstained, amid chants from the right-wing lawmakers in the chamber calling for "send them back".
The new regulation, known as the Return Regulation, represents the most significant strategic shift in the bloc's migration policy in decades, as it legitimizes unprecedented measures that allow EU countries to establish deportation and detention centres outside their geographical borders under bilateral agreements with non-EU countries, known as "return centres".
In accordance with the requirements of the Headquarters Text, these external centres will operate according to two logistical modes:
Transit points: Migrants are temporarily transferred to them pending the completion of their return to their countries of origin.
Long-term detention sites: where migrants remain for extended periods, without a clear time limit or legal guarantees to complete the deportation process.
Scope of Targeted Application: This coercive measure excludes only the category of "unaccompanied minors," while the law grants families the right to move with their children and detain them in these external facilities.
Home searches and a ten-year entry ban
In addition to the external return centers, the new law makes fundamental amendments to the mechanisms of prosecution and internal control in the bloc's countries, giving the authorities broader powers to determine the whereabouts of irregular migrants by approving the following provisions:
Residences searches: Giving the green light to executive agencies to search "residence or other related places" of irregular migrants, a procedure that civil society and nongovernmental organizations have compared to raids carried out by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Increased detention periods: Raise the legal maximum period of detention for migrants awaiting deportation from 6 months (under the previous law) to two full years, with the possibility of a further extension of 6 months, and establish indefinite detention for people deemed by the authorities to be "a risk to security."
Tightening entry bans: Extend the period of the ban on deported migrants from entering EU territory again to 5 to 10 years in most cases, with the possibility of imposing a lifetime ban on those deemed a security risk.
Abolishing automatic protection of appeal: The law amended the process of judicial appeals: whereas previous rules automatically suspended the decision of deportation once a judicial appeal was filed pending the ruling, the new text abolished this automatic protection, leaving the courts with discretion "on a case-by-case" basis to suspend or proceed with the order of return while the appeal is being heard.
The majority of the center-right and the extreme right impose its conditions
The voting session reflected the emergence of a voting bloc and a new parliamentary majority dominating migration issues within the European Parliament, with the center-right European People's Party (EPP) aligned with the far-right and conservative right-wing blocs represented by the European Conservatives and Reformers (ECR), Patriots for Europe (PfE), and the Europe Sovereign Nations (ESN) movement, in addition to the support of a number of deputies from the liberal "Renewal of Europe" bloc.
Although Manfred Weber's European People's Party (EPP) still officially rules out entering into political alliances or structural coalitions with parties it deems too radical – such as the Alternative for Germany (AfD) and the National Rally in France – the party's leadership is now relying on the votes of these forces as a crucial element to pass tough immigration legislation, creating an "alternative majority" to the traditional centrist alliance of the People's Party, the Socialists and the Democrats (S&D)) and the liberal bloc.
Warnings against the normalisation of 'illegal' practices
The legislation has faced fierce opposition from most Socialist and leftist lawmakers, who have warned of the repercussions of the new laws on the human rights bill.
Ana Katharina Mendes, vice-president of the Socialists and Democrats (S&D), said the regulation carries real risks leading to the "normalization of practices whose legality is questionable", stressing that such arrests, raids and the establishment of cross-border detention centres would have been "unimaginable" within the EU just a few years ago.
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