Europe seeks to increase deportations as some warn of Trump-like tactics
[March 30, 2026]
By SAM McNEIL and GIADA ZAMPANO
BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union is expanding its powers to track,
raid and deport migrants to " return hubs ″ in third countries in Africa
and elsewhere, quietly adopting tactics of the Trump administration that
have drawn public criticism across the 27-nation bloc.
The EU continues to tighten migration policies after right-wing parties
took power in some countries in 2024. European Commission President
Ursula von der Leyen, from the center-right European People's Party
coalition, has said that the new measures will prevent a repeat of the
2015 crisis caused by Syria's civil war, when about 1 million people
arrived to seek asylum.
“We have learnt the lessons of the past. And today, we are better
equipped," von der Leyen has said. The new policies, known as the Pact
on Migration and Asylum, go into effect on June 12.
Far-right parties in Europe have praised the deportation policies of
U.S. President Donald Trump and called for the EU to adopt a similar
approach. Human rights groups warn that authorities are already
illegally pushing back migrants at EU borders and hollowing out their
legal protections.
Italy provides a model
The EU already spends millions of dollars to deter migrants before they
reach its shores, and has supported tens of thousands of Africans
returning home, voluntarily or by force.
What's envisioned now is an expansion of what Italy has created under
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and her “tough on migration” stance. It
operates two migrant detention centers for rejected asylum-seekers in
Albania. One currently holds at least 90 migrants, said lawmaker Rachele
Scarpa, who said that she found people confused and scared during a
recent visit.
In addition, Meloni’s Cabinet has approved an anti-immigration package
that would allow the navy to halt vessels in international waters for up
to six months if they are deemed a threat to public order; return
intercepted migrants to countries of origin or third countries; and
speed up the deportation of foreign nationals convicted of crimes.
An “informal group” of EU nations including Germany, Austria, the
Netherlands, Denmark and Greece are pursuing deportation center
agreements, said Bernd Parusel, a researcher at the Swedish Institute
for European Policy Studies.
Kenya is one country they are speaking with, said Tineke Strik, a Dutch
member of the European Parliament. Whether consciously or not, the plan
is similar to Trump’s deals with nations like El Salvador to take in
deported migrants, she said.
Other countries are exploring similar ideas. Sweden’s migration minister
has said the conservative ruling coalition approves setting up hubs
outside Europe, especially for Afghan and Syrian asylum-seekers.
Some in Europe cheer Trump-style tactics
During the Winter Olympics in Italy, protests erupted over the
deployment of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to provide
security to the U.S. delegation. But others in Europe have praised ICE’s
actions and called for setting up deportation-focused police units.
In 2024, Belgium passed a law allowing the EU border service Frontex
operations inside the country, stoking fears among activists that
Frontex could join in on raids.
But Frontex’s mandate just covers borders, said spokesperson Chris
Borowski, and the current role in voluntary or involuntary returns for
the service includes “coordinating flights, helping with travel
documents and making sure fundamental rights are respected throughout
the process.”
The European Commission has declined requests to take a position on U.S.
federal immigration policies.
In Britain, which left the EU several years ago, the center-left Labour
Party government has made curbing unauthorized immigration a key focus.
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Migrants trying to reach Britain, walk on a beach shore in
Gravelines, northern France, Wednesday, March 18, 2026. (AP
Photo/Jean-Francois Badias)
In February, the Home Office said that almost 60,000 people had been
deported since the government was elected in July 2024. It said
9,000 arrests were made of people working without permission in
2025, up by more than half from the year before.
Pushbacks, raids and surveillance increase
Under the principle of non-refoulement in EU and international law,
a person can't be returned to a country where they would face
persecution.
But European immigration enforcement tactics include so-called
pushbacks, where people trying to cross into the EU are forced back
across a border without access to asylum procedures.
Authorities in Europe carry out an average of 221 pushbacks a day,
according to a February report by a group of humanitarian
organizations. More than 80,000 pushbacks were recorded in 2025, the
report said, mostly in Italy, Poland, Bulgaria and Latvia.
"Men, women and children — including individuals in critical medical
condition — are routinely subjected to beatings, attacks by police
dogs, forced stripping, forced river crossings and theft of personal
belongings," according to the report.
European agents are brutalizing migrants just like in the U.S., said
Flor Didden, migration policy expert at the Belgian human rights
group 11.11.11. Some, like in Greece, even wear masks.
"The images are shocking and the outrage is justified,” he said of
the U.S. “But where is that same moral clarity when European border
authorities abuse, rob and let people die?”
Europe still has more protections for migrants
The groups also have recorded an expansion of surveillance
technology like drones, thermal cameras and satellites to monitor
people on the move.
Other human rights groups warn of a weakening of legal protections.
The EU’s new migration regulations allow for more police raids in
private homes and public spaces and more use of surveillance and
racial profiling, said a letter to EU institutions in February from
88 nonprofit groups including the Brussels-based Platform for
International Cooperation on Undocumented Migrants.
“We cannot be outraged by ICE in the United States while also
supporting these practices in Europe,” said the platform's director,
Michele LeVoy.
Olivia Sundberg Diez, EU migration advocate for Amnesty
International, said Europe retains more protections for vulnerable
migrants than the United States but shares much of the political
momentum toward harsher policies.
“There’s a level of institutions' and courts' independence and human
rights compliance in Europe that you can’t disregard,” she said.
“But the fundamental political impulse is the same, and I worry that
the human consequences will be the same.”
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Giada Zampano reported from Rome. Elena Becatoros in Athens, Greece,
Jill Lawless in London, Paolo Santalucia in Rome, Claudia Ciobanu in
Warsaw, Poland, and Kirsten Grieshaber in Berlin, contributed to
this report.
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