European Parliament approved a migrant return increasing bill.

The law allows for building of deportation centers (called “Return Hubs”) outside of EU’s territory – a measure that will increase the process’ speed and makes the rules of immigration more strict, as more member countries shift to the right. It will also increase the detention period to up to 2 years and put in place much more strict entry bans in the EU on the returned people. 389 Members of European Parliament supported the bill, while 206 voting against and 32 abstentions.

The next step is the discussion of the final version between the EU Parliament on one side and the member states on the other, expected to go smoothly and without additional problems. Supporters of the bill in both parties want to include families with children in deportations to third countries, unaccompanied minors being the only exclusion.

Another suggestion is to stop the suspensive effect of appeals which as of now suspend the deportation until appeal is resolved. A point which caused critique is the one which would enable talks with unrecognized third-country entities on the subject of returning illegal migrants to countries of origin. Some argue that this will enable cooperation between EU and non-democratic regimes.

Also, another inclusion to the law proposes a permanent entry ban for individuals that pose a security risk and imposes an unlimited maximum duration of the entry ban for migrants that were returned. The bill is seen by many as a foundation of a new European push to combat the illegal immigration.

Written by journalist of EUReflect Danylo Aleksandrov.