BRUSSELS — European Union leaders have approved sweeping changes to immigration policy that will accelerate deportation processes and permit controversial agreements to establish detention facilities in foreign countries, according to human rights organizations drawing parallels to hardline U.S. immigration enforcement.
“The new regulation will speed up the return process and increase returns of persons who have no legal right to stay in the EU,” said Nicholas Ioannides, deputy migration minister for Cyprus, which holds the rotating presidency of the 27-nation bloc.
The agreement was reached Monday evening through negotiations between the EU’s primary governing bodies — the European Commission, European Council and European Parliament — in what officials call a “trilogue” session.
Opponents have drawn comparisons between this policy and U.S. immigration strategies under the Trump administration, which established undisclosed agreements with various nations to remove thousands of individuals to countries other than their homelands. The United Kingdom had similar plans to send migrants to Rwanda, though legal challenges stalled the initiative and new leadership abandoned it upon taking office.
“The Regulation is going to create a draconian detention and deportation machine,” said Silvia Carter, spokesperson for the Brussels-based Platform for International Cooperation on Undocumented Migrants.
“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 tentative agreement will now advance to EU lawmakers and national leaders, where swift approval is anticipated.
Member countries will gain authority to negotiate bilateral agreements with non-EU nations to establish deportation facilities. At least five EU countries — Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Denmark and Greece — are currently discussing arrangements with third nations, primarily in Africa, to host “return hubs” similar to Italy’s detention agreement with Albania.
The EU has consistently strengthened migration restrictions following right-wing parties gaining control in several countries during 2024. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, representing the center-right European People’s Party coalition, has stated these new policies will avoid repeating the 2015 emergency triggered by Syria’s civil conflict, when approximately 1 million people sought asylum.
Driven by individuals escaping violence and economic hardship throughout Africa and the Middle East, the 2015 refugee emergency and subsequent years of unauthorized migration to Europe have sparked a conservative political shift in the region, mirroring anti-immigration attitudes that contributed to a “red wave” in the 2024 U.S. election.
Center-right political factions joined forces with far-right groups to defeat opposition from moderate and progressive parties, according to Mélissa Camara, a French lawmaker and Green Party member who described the agreement as “a historic setback” for human rights in the region.
“The legalization of return hubs outside the European Union, the green light for the detention of minors, home visits inspired by ICE practices: the legal arsenal serving a xenophobic ideology is now complete,” she said.
Advocacy organizations cautioned the legislation would significantly undermine protections established by the EU fundamental charter on human rights and create dangers for people beyond the bloc’s borders.
“This deal will give governments much broader powers to detain and deport people,” said Marta Welander, a spokesperson for the International Rescue Committee. “It looks set to normalize immigration raids, expand the use of detention in prison-like facilities outside EU territory that are essentially legal black holes, and increase the risk of people being deported to countries where they could face persecution, torture or worse.”
