Europe to ramp up rejected asylum seeker deportations

The European Union is expanding its powers to track, raid and send migrants to “return centres” in third countries in Africa and elsewhere, quietly embracing tactics from the Trump administration that have sparked public criticism in the 27-nation bloc.

The EU continues to tighten its immigration policies after right-wing parties come to power in some countries in 2024.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, from the center-right European People’s Party coalition, said the new measures would prevent a repeat of the 2015 crisis caused by the Syrian civil war, in which nearly a million people sought asylum.

“We have learned from the past and we are better equipped today,” von der Leyen said.

The new policies, known as the Pact on Migration and Asylum, will come into force on June 12.

Far-right parties in Europe have praised US President Donald Trump’s deportation policies and called on the EU to adopt a similar approach.

Human rights groups warn that authorities are already illegally pushing migrants back from EU borders and undermining their legal protections.

The EU is already spending millions of euros to deter migrants before they reach its shores and is supporting the voluntary or forced return of tens of thousands of Africans to their homes.

What is now envisaged is an expansion of what Italy has created under Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and his “tough on immigration” stance.

It operates two immigration detention centers in Albania for people whose asylum claims have been rejected.

One currently houses at least 90 migrants, said MP Rachele Scarpa, who said she found people confused and scared during a recent visit.

In addition, Meloni’s cabinet also approved an anti-immigration package that would allow the navy to stop ships in international waters for up to six months if they pose a threat to public order.

Italy can also extradite captured migrants to their countries of origin or third countries and expedite the deportation of foreign nationals convicted of crimes.

Bernd Parusel, a researcher at the Swedish Institute for European Policy Studies, said an “informal group” of EU countries including Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Denmark and Greece were pursuing deportation center agreements.

Dutch member of the European Parliament, Tineke Strik, said that Kenya was one of the countries they talked about.

He said the plan, consciously or unconsciously, resembles deals Trump has made with countries like El Salvador to accept deported immigrants.

Other countries are exploring similar ideas.

The conservative ruling coalition has approved the establishment of centers outside Europe, especially for Afghan and Syrian refugees, the Swedish Immigration Minister said.

Protests broke out during the Winter Olympics in Italy when US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers were deployed to provide security for the US delegation.

But others in Europe also praised ICE’s actions and called for the creation of deportation-focused police units.

In 2024, Belgium passed a law allowing the EU border service Frontex to operate within the country, raising fears among activists that Frontex could participate in raids.

But spokesman Chris Borowski said Frontex’s mandate only covers borders and that the service’s current role in voluntary or involuntary returns includes “coordinating flights, assisting with travel documents and ensuring fundamental rights are respected throughout the process.”

The European Commission has rejected US requests to take a position on federal immigration policies.

In Britain, which left the EU a few years ago, the centre-left Labor government has made preventing unauthorized immigration a main focus.

In February, the Home Office said nearly 60,000 people had been deported since the government was elected in July 2024.

It was stated that 9000 people working without permission were arrested in 2025, and this figure increased by more than half compared to the previous year.

Under the principle of non-refoulement in EU and international law, a person cannot be sent back to a country where he or she would face persecution.

But Europe’s immigration enforcement tactics also include so-called pushbacks, where people trying to cross the EU are forced to cross the border without access to asylum procedures.

Authorities in Europe carry out an average of 221 pushbacks a day, according to a report published by a group of humanitarian organizations in February.

The report stated that more than 80,000 pushbacks were recorded in 2025, mostly in Italy, Poland, Bulgaria and Latvia.

“Men, women and children, including those in critical medical conditions, are routinely subjected to beatings, attacks by police dogs, forced undressing, forced river crossings and theft of personal items,” according to the report.

Flor Didden, an immigration policy expert for the Belgian human rights group 11.11.11, said European agents treat immigrants just as brutally as in the United States. Some even wear masks, as in Greece.

“The images are shocking and the anger is justified,” he said of the United States.

“But where is the same moral clarity when European border authorities abuse, rob people and allow them to die?”

The groups also noted an expansion of surveillance technologies such as drones, thermal cameras and satellites to monitor people on the move.

Other human rights groups warn of weakening legal protections.

A letter sent to EU institutions in February from 88 non-profit groups, including the Brussels-based Platform for International Cooperation for Undocumented Migrants, said the EU’s new immigration regulations allow for more police raids on private homes and public spaces and greater use of surveillance and racial profiling.

“We cannot be angry at ICE in the United States while supporting these practices in Europe,” said Michele LeVoy, the platform’s director.

Olivia Sundberg Diez, Amnesty International’s EU migration advocate, said Europe had greater protections for vulnerable migrants than the US but shared much of the political momentum for tougher policies.

“There is a level of independence and compliance with human rights of institutions and courts in Europe that cannot be ignored,” he said.

“But the basic political impulse is the same, and I worry that the humanitarian consequences will be the same.”