Overview
- The Pact on Migration and Asylum takes effect on June 12 and allows EU countries to deport rejected asylum seekers to offshore “return hubs,” which are detention and transfer sites outside the bloc.
- European lawmakers backed the plan by a 389–206 vote with 32 abstentions, adding longer detention of up to 24 months and tougher entry bans to drive up return rates.
- Italy is presented as a template, operating two centers in Albania where at least 90 people were held during a recent visit, alongside a plan that lets the navy stop vessels in international waters and speed deportations of people convicted of crimes.
- Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Denmark and Greece are pursuing hub agreements, with Kenya named in early talks, and the new rules let single states or small coalitions negotiate their own deals.
- Humanitarian groups report about 80,000 pushbacks in 2025 and describe beatings, police dog attacks and forced river crossings, warning the new rules expand raids, surveillance and racial profiling despite non-refoulement protections in law.