San Francisco Frontiers - EU lawmakers back 'return hubs' for migrants

European Union states have already approved measures that respond to pressure across the 27-nation bloc to curb irregular migration -- but have been severely criticised by the left and human rights groups.

A European parliament committee held an initial vote on the package Monday, before a plenary ballot to adopt the text possibly as early as Thursday.

Centre-right and far-right lawmakers clinched a last minute deal, sidestepping a centrist push to approve a compromise text.

The reform would notably allow for the opening of centres outside the EU's borders to which migrants whose asylum applications have been rejected would be sent -- the so-called "return hubs".

It also envisages harsher penalties for migrants who refuse to leave, including through detention and entry bans.

Centre-right French parliamentarian Francois-Xavier Bellamy celebrated the vote as "a decisive step forward" that will allow Europe to "regain control" of its migration policy and tackle irregular arrivals.

But Murielle Laurent of the centre-left Socialist and Democrats group said the text envisaged no legal obligations for third countries that might host return centres and failed to specify who would be legally responsible for people sent there.

"By outsourcing our asylum and return policies to third countries, we are entering a new era of trading in human beings where migrants are expelled against their will in exchange for money," she said.

European governments have sought a tougher stance amid a souring of public opinion on migration that has fuelled far-right electoral gains across the continent.

With migrant arrivals down in 2025, focus in Brussels has turned to improving the repatriation system, which currently sees about 20 percent of people ordered to leave actually returned to their country of origin.

The measures first proposed by the European Commission last year have been slammed by NGOs including Amnesty International, which said they carry "grave risks of systematic human rights violations".

Maria Nyman of Catholic humanitarian aid group Caritas, said the bill risked "making detention the norm" rather than a measure of last resort and would "outsource EU responsibilities" creating "de facto deportation centres beyond effective human rights oversight".

"They allow for deportation centres in countries they never set foot in, and will lead to increased surveillance and discrimination," added Silvia Carta of PICUM, an organisation which protects undocumented migrants.

The rules introduce practices that "echo the violence" associated with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids in the United States, she said.

Some in the bloc, including France and Spain, have questioned the effectiveness of return centres.

Britain abandoned a scheme to deport undocumented migrants to Rwanda, while Italian-run facilities to process migrants in Albania have faced legal challenges and a slow uptake.

Others like Germany, Austria, and Nordic countries hope the hubs will act as a deterrent and discourage migrants from attempting to reach Europe in the first place.

Irregular border crossings and asylum applications to the EU dropped by 26 percent and almost 20 percent respectively in 2025, according to official data.

Following full parliamentary approval, EU lawmakers and member state representatives will start negotiations on a final text.

K.Torres--SFF