EU Comes Up with a New Plan to Send Illegal Migrants Back to Their Home Countries

The European Union's Commission is determined to make the return of undocumented migrants to their home countries more effective.

The Commission has now recommended a new operational strategy with the goal of increasing the total number of returns.

“An effective and common EU system for returns is a central pillar of well-functioning and credible migration and asylum systems, as well as of the comprehensive approach of the New Pact on Migration and Asylum. An effective and common EU system for returns should also serve as a deterrent to help reduce unsafe and irregular migration,” reads a statement of the Commission announcing the new proposal.

The plan focuses on four major areas, which are as follows:

1. Modernize and optimise return procedures in each EU Member State while fully respecting fundamental rights, including the protection of those being returned's personal data.

2. Boost voluntary returns and reintegration of people who have returned to society in their home country, as well as nurture more sustainable returns, in order to increase overall returns.

3. Facilitating a more collaborative and cohesive EU strategy to return among Member States, the Commission, and the EU border agency Frontex, while taking into account overall interactions with third-country partners.

4. Improve return data and statistical evidence while developing a more targeted, planned, and efficient return policy, as well as a unified operational response capacity.

“We are making progress on Migration EU, but we need to work together,” Commissioner for Home Affairs, Ylva Johansson, said during a press point with the EU Return Coordinator, Mari Juritsch.

Furthermore, the paper states that there have been overall positive achievements in the area of return in recent years, with the Schengen evaluation system improving Member States' practises and national legislation to the objectives and requirements of the amended Return Directive.

Frontex has also played an essential role in assisting Member States in all stages of both voluntary and forced returns, including reintegration at home, according to the report.

By fLEXI tEAM