EU plans to deport more migrants through “return hubs”

 The European Union has announced a plan on Tuesday to deport more migrants and for the creation of “return hubs” outside the EU, in latest migration policy shift, says DW on March 12th. 

The plan would see for a set of common procedures across the 27 member States that would allow any EU country to enforce a deportation order, even if it is issued by another EU country. 

“Today only around 20% of those who have a return decision leave Europe. This number is by far too low,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told the press.

If approved, the new legislation will enable member States to send asylum seekers in partner countries outside of the EU.

EU countries are currently allowed to deport asylum seekers back to their countries of origin or a country they transited from. Yet official numbers show only one in five asylum seekers who had their claim rejected are returned to their country of origin.

The policy, stemming from far-right parties across Europe, has already been implemented in Italy where Giorgia Meloni’s government had previously agreed a to scheme with Albania to process asylum claims in the country.

A hard proponent of stricter border control and “return hubs” – a euphemism for deportation centers – the Italian President had praised von der Leyen for endorsing the idea on a larger scale. 

Human right groups say the proposal contravenes the right to asylum. 

“We can likely expect more people being locked up in immigration detention centers across Europe, families separated and people sent to countries they don’t even know,” said Silvia Carta from the Platform for International Cooperation on Undocumented Migrants.

Under the proposal, EU countries would individually negotiate with third-countries willing to manage the facilities, a further step in the EU’s attempt to subcontract its border protection to neighbouring countries that often show little to no concerns for human rights. 

Moreover, people that are found to be a flight risk could be detained for up to two years instead of 18 months. 

However, unlike Meloni’s deal and the UK’s aborted Rwanda bill, only asylum seekers whose claims have been denied could be held in return hubs.

Yet, according to Marta Welander from the international Rescue Committee, this does not foreclose an increase in the risk of rights violations. 

“Keeping people deliberately out of sight and out of mind is not a sustainable solution to Europe’s migration challenges,” she says.

DW, The Guardian