The EU is in the process of creating a new system that will make it easier to return irregularly present migrants to their country of origin. The legislation, known as the Returns Regulation, includes measures that make it possible to detain more people – including children and families – for longer periods of time.
This marks a major shift in European migration policy, as until now EU Member States could only detain irregularly present migrants as a last resort under specific circumstances. Not all States even had detention policies, and where they did, detention centres were almost always within the EU. This meant legal safeguards could be closely monitored.
