The European Union announced a plan on Tuesday to deport more migrants and create so-called “return hubs” in third countries.
The new plan would create common regulations across the 27-member bloc so that immigration authorities in one EU country can enforce a deportation order 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 said.
The plan would also change the rules to allow EU countries to send rejected asylum seekers to third countries.
“We are creating the scope for member states to explore new solutions for return,” Magnus Brunner, the EU commissioner for migration, told a press conference in Strasbourg.
Rights groups condemn ‘return hubs’
Under current rules, the EU can only deport rejected asylum seekers back to their country of origin or a country they transited from, unless they agree otherwise.
Return hubs are a euphemism for deportation centers that would be set up in non-EU countries.
The EU plans to deport rejected asylum seekers to these “return hubs” until they can be deported back to their countries of origin.
But rights groups say the proposal undermines 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.
The EU would not build or manage the return hubs. Rather, it would negotiate with countries willing to take rejected asylum seekers.
Marta Welander from the International Rescue Committee said this could increase 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 said.