Several EU nations are looking to set up deportation hubs in Africa within just a few months in a crackdown on migrants.
Last week, a large centre-right bloc worked with the hard right to pass the Return Regulation, drafted by the European Commission, which would make deportation procedures across the EU ‘faster and more effective’.
Now, Germany and several other nations, including the Netherlands, Denmark, Austria and Greece, want to use the legislation to create ‘return hubs’ for migrants.
These would be put in countries – expected to be mostly in Africa – that are willing to host asylum seekers who cannot be returned to their home nations.
Uganda, Mauritania and Benin are among the states said to be interested in making deals with European nations.
The Return Regulation, which still needs final approval by governments and parliament, creates a framework for governments to make migration agreements with non-EU nations.
It also allows for migrants to be held for up to two years and tracked with electronic tags.
It will also allow for deportation orders to be enforced across the whole EU, closing a loophole that allows migrants to move within the bloc to avoid being sent home.
But it will also allow countries to hold migrants indefinitely if they cannot be returned to their home nations.
Alexander Dobrindt, the German interior minister, said after the vote: ‘We aim to have reached agreements with third countries by the end of this year to take the next step — the establishment of these return hubs.’
François-Xavier Bellamy, leader of the French conservative Republicans group in the European parliament, said: ‘The decisive changes introduced by this regulation will make it possible to simply guarantee the straightforward principle that if you come to Europe illegally, rest assured that you will not stay here.’
Giorgia Meloni, the right-wing prime minister of Italy, called the vote, which was won by 389 to 206, ‘a decisive moment’ in Europe’s fight against illegal immigration.
Many have compared the EU’s scheme to the Britain’s Rwanda policy, which the Labour government abandoned in 2024.
But many NGOs have called the EU’s plan ‘Trump-inspired’.
Amnesty International said the legislation carried ‘grave risks of systematic human rights violations’.
PICUM, which supports undocumented immigrants, said the EU’s new rules would ‘to deportation centres in countries they never set foot in’ and ‘lead to increased surveillance and discrimination’.
And the International Red Cross said holding centres would be held ‘outside of EU territory, where policymakers cannot guarantee that people’s rights will be upheld’.
Last week, the number of small boat migrants to have reached Britain since Labour came to power topped 69,000.
It comes after the head of the UK’s Border Security Command quit after failing to stem the surge in crossings.
Martin Hewitt will leave the post of border security commander in a few days’ time after 18 months in the job, it was confirmed last week.
Sir Keir Starmer appointed former senior police officer Mr Hewitt shortly after becoming Prime Minister, tasking him with curbing the number of small boats crossing the Channel.
But last year saw second-highest annual total of people crossing the Channel, with 41,472 arrivals.
Labour’s ‘one in, one out’ deal with the French has also failed to have an impact on the Channel crisis.
According to latest figures, only 377 migrants have been sent back to France under the agreement but 380 have come into Britain under the reciprocal terms of the deal.
The ‘one in, one out’ scheme is due to expire in June.
Sir Keir scrapped the previous government’s Rwanda asylum scheme – which was designed to save lives in the Channel by deterring crossings – as one of his first acts in office.
The Government has also ruled out leaving the European Convention on Human Rights which is used by migrants and foreign criminals to avoid being deported.
