La Strada International like many other civil society organisations expresses concern over the EU return hubs and their compatibility with fundamental rights. Previous experiences show that such arrangements can increase vulnerability, undermine people’s rights, and create environments where exploitative recruitment, violence and other human rights violations can spread. We strongly oppose the EU Return Directive and ICE-like deportations in Europe, including the detention of children and the transfer of people to camps outside Europe. See PICUM’s blog.
Early March the LIBE Committee adopted concerning reforms to EU return rules that would explicitly allow return hubs in third countries. In a contentious vote of 41 in favour to 32 against, LIBE backed provisions allowing detention for up to 24 months, mutual recognition of return decisions across the EU, and the issuance of return decisions to any non-EU national considered to be in an irregular situation.
The proposal also strengthens obligations to cooperate with authorities, foresees entry bans of up to 10 years for people who do not comply with return decisions, and expands detention possibilities to children. Concerningly on 26 March, the European Parliament agreed to move to the next phase and start negotiations with the Council.
“This vote marks a dangerous turning point, as centre-right forces break the cordon sanitaire to align with the far right and push through a deeply repressive agenda. This toxic alliance is paving the way for mass detention, family separation, and deportations – normalising abuse we’ve seen with ICE in the United States, and putting countless lives at risk.”
Silvia Carta, Advocacy Officer, Platform for International Cooperation on Undocumented Migrants (PICUM)
The current proposed text expands the powers of enforcement authorities to detect undocumented people inside the EU, including through identity checks, workplace inspections and home raids focused on migration control. This risks creating fear and distrust towards institutions, discouraging people from reporting crimes, including severe violence, exploitation and human trafficking. At the same time, the Regulation does nothing to address the causes of irregularity. It offers no pathways for people stuck in administrative limbo, no firewall protecting access to basic services, and no meaningful reference to regularisation.
See also the roundtable discussion on the human rights implications of the reform and the importance of ensuring that return policies remain aligned with international human rights standards. Read the Takeaways of the event, alongside Christina Meinecke, OHCHR Representative to the European Union opening remarks.
A new position paper by the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) examined the proposals to establish “return hubs” in third countries as part of efforts to increase deportations from the EU. FRA stresses that such centres must not be “rights-free zones”, as States would remain responsible for ensuring fundamental rights protections, even when individuals are transferred outside EU territory.
Returns must be based on individual assessments, respect the principle of non-refoulement, and guarantee access to effective legal remedies. Vulnerable groups, especially children, should not be transferred to these hubs. Crucially, any cooperation with third countries would require legally binding agreements, strong safeguards, and independent monitoring mechanisms to prevent abuses. Without these, the FRA warns that return hubs risk exposing people to arbitrary detention, inhuman treatment, or onward removal to unsafe countries.
The Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights also published observations, highlighting the risks it may pose to the human rights of migrants and asylum seekers. Furthermore a recent Spotlight Report on Global Migration 2026 stresses that irregular migration is driven by structural barriers, not personal choice, and argues for simplified regularisation mechanisms, expanded regular pathways, and detention only as a genuine last resort. The report warns that punitive, exclusionary and surveillance-driven migration policies undermine rights while failing to address the real drivers of migration, including conflict, inequality and climate crises.
If policies push people into irregularity and return is presented as the only solution, irregularity will not disappear. Punitive and restrictive migration policies do not address the root causes of irregularity or effectively reduce migration, particularly while demand for cheap labour continues across Europe.
The EU and its Member States should instead invest in more cost-effective, humane and realistic responses, grounded in regularisation, access to rights and respect for fundamental human rights.