Fears of ICE-style immigration crackdown as EU politicians set to overhaul asylum laws

Irish MEP claims too much misinformation about migration, with complex issues reduced 'to slogans, outrage, and false claims'

Italian Coast Guard personnel evacuate migrants off the coast of the Sicilian Island of Lampedusa. File picture: Jan Salmen/AP

EU politicians have promised to increase deportations of undocumented migrants, under a new law that critics say mimics elements of the Trump administration’s brutal immigration crackdown.

Finalising a key element of an overhauled EU asylum and migration system, politicians have agreed a regulation that will enable national authorities to raid people’s homes to enforce deportation orders.

People facing a deportation order who are deemed to be uncooperative or a flight risk could be detained for up to two years, extendable to 30 months, compared with the 18-month detention period under existing law. Those who refuse to comply with a deportation order could have benefits or other allowances cut.

The regulation will also enable the creation of offshore return hubs, centres outside the EU where undocumented people would be held for unspecified periods, pending return to their home country.

Several EU countries are in talks with countries, mostly in Africa, to create return hubs, although no agreements have been announced.

The text agreed in three-way talks between the main EU institutions — the European Council, parliament, and commission — will enable the search of people’s homes “or other relevant premises” and seizure of personal belongings in order to ensure compliance with a deportation order.

Detention will be permitted for unaccompanied minors and families with children, “as a measure of last resort” and “for the shortest appropriate period taking into account the best interests of the child”, said a press release from the European Parliament.

People deemed a security risk could face a lifetime ban on entering the EU, in comparison with the current 10-year maximum ban.

Increased deportations

The EU hopes the measures will increase deportations of people denied the right to asylum, those who have overstayed their visa, or have no residency rights. Currently only about 20% of people with no right to stay in the EU are successfully returned to their home countries.

EU officials hailed the law as an important step in the EU's migration management. “With the new rules, we have more control over who can come to the EU, who can stay, and who needs to leave,” said EU migration commissioner Magnus Brunner, who drafted the original proposals.

Critics accused the EU of copying practices of the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which under the second Trump presidency has embarked on a harsh and violent crackdown of undocumented migrants.

Mélissa Camara, a Green MEP, said the text “weakens procedural rights, extends lengths of detention, and endorses ICE practices by allowing authorities to conduct home raids”.

The agreement became possible after the centre-right European People’s party (EPP) voted with far-right groups in the European Parliament in March to push through more stringent measures on returning undocumented people. Before the parliament shifted rightwards in 2024 European elections, it had traditionally acted as a brake on the tougher instincts of EU member states.

'Too much misinformation'

Regina Doherty: Complex issues reduced to 'slogans, outrage, and false claims'. File picture: Damien Storan/PA Wire

Welcoming the deal, Fine Gael MEP for Dublin Regina Doherty, who is a member of the EPP, said: “This agreement is not about people who have come to Europe legally, those who are working, studying, or contributing to our communities, nor is it about people who have been granted international protection. 

"It is about creating a common European system for dealing with cases where a person has gone through the legal process and has been found not to have the right to remain.” 

She said there was “too much misinformation” about migration, with complex issues reduced “to slogans, outrage, and false claims”.

Silvia Carta, an advocacy officer at the Brussels-based Platform for Cooperation on Undocumented Migrants, said the law would “expose hundreds of thousands of people to harm and violence — from locking people up in immigration detention for up to 30 months to tearing families apart and sending people to countries they don’t even know”.

She added: “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 law on returns, which will be rubber stamped by the EU Council and parliament, caps a lengthy overhaul of asylum and migration procedures, launched in 2020 in an effort to avoid a repeat of the 2015 migration crisis, when 1.3m people — many from war-torn Syria and Afghanistan — sought refuge in Europe.

Guardian