President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen (Photo by Thierry Monasse/Getty Images) Getty Images The European Commission has presented a long-expected draft law to increase deportations of rejected asylum seekers, among other measures meant to decrease the amount of irregular migrants on European soil. Most notably, the law includes provisions for so-called ‘return hubs,’ or centers in non-EU countries where individual member states may look to deport rejected migrants. The draft regulation, which has been much speculated over in recent months, gives some clear indications of what future EU immigration and asylum policy will likely look like. The Commission’s proposal for “a new Common European System for Returns” was presented in Strasbourg on Tuesday. The preamble to the presentation (which can be read in full here) lays out the perceived problem the new legislation seeks to address, namely that EU member states are not at present able to effectively deport people. “With return rates across the EU currently standing at only 20 percent, and with a fragmentation of different systems lending themselves to abuse, a modern, simpler and more effective legal framework is needed,” reads the proposal. “The new rules will give Member States the necessary tools to make return more efficient while fully respecting fundamental rights.” The new rules, while broadly in line with what was expected in terms of content, nonetheless surprised some in Brussels for being so direct in language. While it was no surprise to see provisions for a harmonized returns system between individual member states, the clear provision for enforcing returns (ie. deporting someone forcefully) in cases of resistance or non-cooperation was striking to some policy observers. The new law also opens up the use of stricter immigration enforcement procedures, including expanded immigration detention and the use of financial penalties and entry bans, as well as provisions for expedited action if someone is deemed to be a ‘security risk’ (an issue much in debate at the moment, after several violent incidents linked to asylum seekers across Europe). MORE FOR YOU One Of TV’s Best Mystery Shows Returns With A 100% Perfect Critic Score Elon Musk Says He’s Running His Companies ‘With Great Difficulty’ As Tesla Shares Plummet BlackRock CEO Issues Serious Warning Amid $1 Trillion Bitcoin And Crypto Price Sell-Off The proposal also lays out the safeguards it intends to enact so that any return and immigration enforcement operations are carried out "in full respect of fundamental and international human rights standards.” “We will always fully respect fundamental rights and international law, but those with no right to stay must be swiftly removed, and there must be clear consequences for those who do not cooperate,” said President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen. Most notably, the new law lays the groundwork for the establishment of ‘return hubs.’ These are, in effect, agreements made between individual EU member states and non-EU third countries to deport people there, whether or not they originally came from that country. The Commission had previously denied that the new law would include such a provision, a discrepancy partially explained by observing that the law makes legal room for individual member states to pursue such arrangements, rather than them being done at the EU level itself. While that may seem like a distinction without a difference, it was quite expected. Civil society and NGO groups have responded critically to the new law. The undocumented migrants charity PICUM called the new regime “dystopian” and accused the Commission of violating its human rights obligations by seeking to step up deportations, in contrast to previous commitments to more human options. “This new proposal is a lucid attempt to escalate the EU’s obsession with deportations, by applying a discriminatory and punitive approach to any person in an irregular situation,” said Silvia Carta, Advocacy Officer at PICUM. "We can likely expect more people being locked up in immigration detention centers across Europe, families separated, and people sent to countries they don’t even know.” Swedish Green MEP Alice Bah Kuhnke said such a scheme would be totally unworkable: “Return hubs outside the EU are completely unrealistic and would be extremely costly, both to taxpayers and in human suffering. Return hubs are not a solution to our problems related to migration, but rather populism to appease the extreme right." According to Magnus Brunner, Commissioner for Internal Affairs and Migration, the Commission’s proposal represents “a set of effective, modern procedures for returns.” Follow me on Twitter. Editorial StandardsForbes Accolades