The European Union has moved forward with a vast overhaul of its migration policy, aiming to ramp up deportations and ink controversial deals to build detention centres abroad, in what rights groups compare to the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration policies.
“The new regulation will speed up the return process and increase returns of persons who have no legal right to stay in the EU,” said Nicholas Ioannides, deputy migration minister for Greek-administered Southern Cyprus, which holds the rotating presidency of the 27-nation bloc.
Only 29 percent of migrants with no legal right to remain in Europe leave the EU, Euronews reported, citing official figures.
The deal was struck between the EU’s three main institutions, the European Commission, the European Council and European Parliament, during a so-called “trilogue” on Monday evening.
“This is a really very important step in making sure that we have control over what is happening in the EU, over who comes but also who has to leave the EU,” Home Affairs Commissioner Magnus Brunner said.
Critics compared the regulation to the immigration strategy of the Trump administration, which has struck a series of secretive agreements with nations around the world to deport thousands of people to countries that are not their own. The United Kingdom also planned to deport migrants to Rwanda, but the plan was bogged down in legal red tape and the new government dropped the plan as soon as it came into power.
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“The Regulation is going to create a draconian detention and deportation machine,” said Silvia Carter, spokesperson for the Brussels-based Platform for International Cooperation on Undocumented Migrants.
“Across the Atlantic, we see the violence and fear created by ICE’s brutal immigration enforcement. Europe should be learning from the harms of that model, not building its own version of it.”
The provisional agreement will now head to the EU lawmakers and heads of state, where approval will likely be swift.
Currently, most migrants can only be returned to their country of origin or to a country where they have an established connection. Under the new system, this requirement will no longer apply. The only exception would be unaccompanied minors, who could not be sent to a return hub, whereas families with children would remain eligible for transfer to such hubs, Euronews reported.
