European draft bill to build detention centers for asylum seekers outside the EU

The European Commission on Tuesday presented a new regulation that, if approved, would enable member states to transfer rejected asylum seekers to distant countries where they have never set foot, signaling a radical shift in migration policy.

The bill doesn’t create a mandatory program to build deportation centers (or “return centers”, as Brussels calls them), but it does lay the legal groundwork to allow governments to strike arrangements with countries outside the bloc that might be willing to host migrants in exchange for financial incentives.

Deportation will only take place after the applicant has exhausted all legal avenues for obtaining international protection and has obtained a final return order.

Tuesday’s list is the first concrete result of the outsourcing drive that EU leaders endorsed at a crucial summit last October.

At the time, heads of state and government agreed to explore new ways to prevent and combat illegal migration, a vague and at times vague formulation that gave Brussels permission to venture into uncharted territory.

With its proposal, the Commission is taking a step further towards outsourcing by redefining what country of return means in practice.

Under current rules, Member States can send rejected asylum seekers to their country of origin, a transit country with a readmission agreement or any other country if the migrant voluntarily agrees.

The new bill undermines the concept of acceptance by asylum seekers and expands deportation routes to allow EU countries to strike deals with governments outside the bloc and build deportation centers.

The EU Commission won’t lead though the construction or management of these facilities, leaving it to countries to decide whether they want to pursue the project, which is expected to be expensive, logistically challenging and politically controversial.

However, the possibility of an EU-wide scheme isn’t being ruled out.

Italy, Denmark and the Netherlands have led discussions on outsourcing and appear to be the frontrunners to move forward.

Italy is reportedly considering a plan to turn its Albanian asylum processing centers into full-fledged return centers.

The Albanian centers are currently empty, paralyzed by legal action.

However, the regulation sets out minimum standards that these centers must meet, such as the presence of an independent body to monitor the effective implementation of the Convention, exemption for unaccompanied minors and families with children, and a clear definition of responsibilities for dealing with potential human rights violations.

Humanitarian organizations have warned since the European summit in October that such abuses are inevitable.

In their view, sending migrants, without their consent, to distant countries will lead to inadequate oversight and substandard conditions, creating a fertile ground for human rights violations without accountability or punishment.

NGOs have also raised alarm about the widespread use of detention that outsourcing would require, as asylum seekers would have to be kept inside facilities.

The bill presented on Tuesday sets out a long list of grounds for placing rejected asylum seekers in detention in a given member state for a maximum of two years.

It doesn’t set a maximum limit for detention in an offshore center, which must be determined in a bilateral agreement and may be short-term or long-term.

The return regulation aims to fill a remaining gap in the Migration and Asylum Pact, the sweeping reform agreed by the EU last year after nearly four years of arduous negotiations.

The pact sets out common rules for receiving and managing asylum seekers, with a system of mandatory solidarity to ensure all governments, from North to South, help share the burden.

But the comprehensive reform didn’t address the issue of returns, the final stage of the process for asylum seekers whose applications have been rejected and who no longer have the right to remain on European soil.

A previous attempt to renew the current legislation was stuck in the European Parliament and never saw the light of day.

For years, the bloc has struggled to accelerate the actual rate of return, which hovers between 20% and 25%, without making any clear progress.

NGOs have warned that data on the rate of return is incomplete and should not be used to guide policymaking.

The reasons for this stagnation are due to the lack of cooperation between asylum seekers and the authorities, between member states themselves, and especially between member states and countries of origin, which often refuse to take back their citizens.

With far-right forces exploiting the issue of irregular migration for electoral gains, member states have put pressure on the EU Commission to introduce a tougher text and break decades-old taboos on outsourcing.

The response from Brussels seems to be up to the task: in addition to enshrining the law to allow the construction of deportation centers in distant countries, the proposed regulation sets obligations that rejected asylum seekers must respect, such as providing personal identity, biometric data, contact details and information on the countries they have transited.

Migrants must remain present at all times throughout the return process and be allowed to search their belongings if necessary and duly justified, the bill states.

Those who violate these obligations could have their social benefits cut, their travel documents confiscated and their work permits revoked.

They could also face a long-term ban on future entry into the EU and even financial sanctions, which the text doesn’t detail.

In addition, the law provides for fast-track procedures for the detention and expulsion of asylum seekers deemed to pose security risks.

NGOs have denounced this punitive approach, saying it will harm the rights of asylum seekers, reinforce dangerous stereotypes and blur the line between immigration and criminal law.

The fact that the Commission didn’t carry out an impact assessment before unveiling the regulation has raised concerns among civil society, which feels the legislation has been rushed through under political pressure and without meaningful consultation.

In contrast, reactions at the political level are expected to be more welcoming.

The European Council and the European Parliament, the co-lawmakers who will negotiate the bill, have shifted significantly to the right in recent years, demanding a tougher line on illegal immigration.

Asylum applications across the EU, Norway and Switzerland fell by 11% in 2024, but remained above the 1 million mark.

In addition, the Regulation envisages mutual recognition of deportation orders between Member States to allow decisions to be enforced directly.