Asylum seekers whose claims for protection are rejected by authorities would be subject to European Union-wide deportation orders, under proposals to further “firm up” migration rules.
The changes would pave the way for countries to set up deportation “hubs” outside EU borders, where rejected asylum seekers could be sent, while efforts were made to deport them to their home country.
Under the proposals – if approved – an EU state would be able to enforce a deportation order that was issued by another EU member state.
The new measures from the European Commission, the EU executive arm that proposes laws, were criticised by Amnesty International as a “new low” in Europe’s treatment of migrants.
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The reforms aim to stop someone whose asylum claim has been rejected in one EU state from travelling to another EU state to lodge a second claim.
The commission has suggested giving governments powers to request a “financial guarantee” from asylum seekers subject to deportation orders. Authorities would have the power to seize a person’s passport or other travel documents to prevent them absconding to another EU state.
Rejected asylum seekers could also be detained for up to two years while efforts were made to deport them.
Among the most controversial elements of the proposal are “return hubs”. This would allow EU states strike deals with countries outside the bloc to set up facilities where unsuccessful asylum seekers could be sent, while negotiations to deport the person back to their country of origin take place.
“Today’s proposal lays the ground for states to send people to countries to which they have no connection, to languish in detention centres, with little credible guarantees that their rights will be upheld,” said Eve Geddie, the head of Amnesty’s EU office.
The commission said families with children and unaccompanied child asylum seekers could not be sent to deportation hubs.
Tineke Strik, a Green MEP from the Netherlands, said she feared people would be left in these facilities without any certainty about when they would ultimately be deported.
The shift towards more forced deportations, rather than helping people to voluntarily return to their home countries, would result in authorities “locking up thousands more people for longer periods, with limited options to contest their detention”, she said.
European commissioner for migration Magnus Brunner said it was “unacceptable” that only about a fifth of asylum seekers ordered to leave the EU did so.
A separate, wide-ranging overhaul of EU asylum policy, which will introduce more fast-tracking of decisions in certain cases, is set to come into effect by the middle of next year.
The proposed changes to deportation regimes will be debated by the European Parliament and national capitals.
