Is the EU’s African migrant hubs plan dead on arrival?

Brussels’ largest political faction wants to ship illegal immigrants to Africa, but the EU’s own laws could get in the way The leader of the center-right European People’s Party has called on the EU to set up migrant return hubs in Africa to enable swift deportations. However, similar schemes have failed before. In an editorial for Germany’s Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung on Monday, Weber argued that the recent migrant invasion of Ceuta was enabled by Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’ pro-immigration policies. Enforcement of EU migration law, the senior Brussels power-player argued, can no longer be left up to individual member states.“Just as a village policeman has no chance against organized crime, no single member state will defeat the internationally operating people smuggling mafia alone,” he wrote. “Only a united Europe can put an end to their activities.”The EU, he continued, should set up migrant hubs in Africa, where illegal immigrants and failed asylum seekers could be sent once ordered to leave the bloc’s member states. Governments in Africa could be enticed with “offers of strong trade relations, economic cooperation, and [pathways to] legal migration,” he suggeste...