EU 'grows teeth' as 'deportation toolkit' launched in migrant crackdown

She said: "We have learnt the lessons of the past. And today, we are better equipped."

The new policies, known as the Pact on Migration and Asylum, come into effect on June 12. The pact, dubbed a "deportation toolkit", includes joint police raids, biometric tracking in real time and outsourcing migrant detention centres to countries outside the EU.

Human rights groups warn authorities are already illegally pushing back migrants at EU borders and hollowing out their legal protections.

Brussels is eyeing an expansion of what Italy has created under Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and her migration stance.

Italy operates two migrant detention centres for rejected asylum-seekers in Albania. One currently holds at least 90 migrants, according to lawmaker Rachele Scarpa.

Ms Meloni’s Cabinet has also approved an anti-immigration package which 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.

Bernd Parusel, a researcher at the Swedish Institute for European Policy Studies, said an "informal group" of EU nations including Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Denmark and Greece are pursuing deportation centre agreements.

Tineke Strik, a Dutch member of the European Parliament, said Kenya is one country the group is speaking to. She said whether consciously or not, the plan is similar to Mr Trump’s deals with nations such as El Salvador to take in deported migrants.

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.

During the Winter Olympics in Italy, protests erupted over the deployment of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to provide security to the US delegation. But others in Europe praised ICE’s actions and called for similar deportation-focused police units.

Belgium passed a law in 2024 allowing the EU border service, Frontex, to carry out operations inside its territory, stoking fears among activists the service could join in on raids.

Spokesperson Chris Borowskiut said Frontex’s mandate only covers borders 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 US federal immigration policies.

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 organisations.

The report said more than 80,000 pushbacks were recorded in 2025, mostly in Italy, Poland, Bulgaria and Latvia.

It added: "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."

Flor Didden, a migration policy expert at the Belgian human rights group 11.11.11, said European agents were brutalising migrants just like in the US. He said some in Greece even wear masks.

Mr Didden said: "The images are shocking and the outrage is justified. But where is that same moral clarity when European border authorities abuse, rob and let people die?"

The groups also have recorded an expansion of surveillance technology including drones, thermal cameras and satellites to monitor people on the move.

Non-profit groups said in a letter to EU institutions that Brussels' new migration rules allow for more police raids in private homes and public spaces and extra use of surveillance and racial profiling.

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.

She said: "There’s a level of institutions' and courts' independence and human rights compliance in Europe that you can’t disregard.

"But the fundamental political impulse is the same and I worry that the human consequences will be the same."