EU to let Frontex help deport migrants from abroad

The European Commission is set to propose on Tuesday, Oct. 27, that the EU border agency Frontex gain powers to help return irregular migrants from one non-EU country to another, and to take part in deportations from planned “return hubs” outside the bloc, Euronews reported.

The plan would also give Frontex a rapid-response force for sudden mass arrivals, according to Euronews, which published the draft details as an exclusive on Oct. 26. The agency would receive €12 billion under the EU’s next seven-year budget, double its previous allocation, the outlet reported. Because the proposal had not been formally presented when this story was published, details could change and the story is developing.

Frontex now helps national authorities return migrants from EU countries to their countries of origin and patrols external borders. Under the reform it could support authorities in third countries, such as North African governments, in sending Central African citizens home before they attempt to reach Europe. An EU official told Euronews: “The more people you return before [they reach Europe], the less you have to return after.”

Frontex officers could also help carry out removals from return hubs, which a recently approved EU law allows member states to set up in third countries. Euronews reported that five EU governments are negotiating the first hub, expected to be operational in 2027. Any cooperation with a third country would need a specific agreement, similar to the status agreements Frontex already has with Albania, Serbia and North Macedonia. The EU is negotiating one with Senegal, and a Frontex liaison officer for Senegal, Mauritania and Gambia has been in place since 2023.

The reform would also create an online surveillance unit to monitor social media for signs of large-scale movements, Euronews reported. The stated aim is to avoid a repeat of last July’s mass entry into the Spanish exclave of Ceuta, when about 90,000 migrants crossed from Morocco. That episode led to a dispute covered in our report on how Italy and Spain ended border checks after the Ceuta migrant row.

Home Affairs and Migration Commissioner Magnus Brunner told the German newspaper Welt, in an interview reported Oct. 25 by Italy’s Agenzia Nova, that people with no right to stay in the EU “must actually leave it” and that current results are “not enough yet.” Agenzia Nova reported that the plan would make Frontex the EU’s main body for coordinating returns and create a European return coordination centre.

The Welt interview put the return rate for irregular migrants at more than 30 per cent in the first 10 months of 2026, up from 20 per cent in the same period of 2025. Agenzia Nova, citing Welt and Commission sources, reported that Frontex’s 2026 budget exceeds €1 billion and that the agency has used up the money for the European return and reintegration programme, where more than 21,200 people were registered by October, about 59 per cent more than a year earlier.

Rights groups have objected to the direction of travel. Josephine Solanki, a researcher at the Transnational Institute, said Frontex is “a deportation agency, increasingly operating far away from the actual border of the EU.” Several non-governmental groups want stronger oversight, arguing the agency has already been involved in rights violations inside Europe, Euronews reported.

Commission Vice-President Henna Virkkunen and Brunner are expected to present the proposal after the College of Commissioners meets. It must then be negotiated by member states and the European Parliament. Migration pressure was already a focus of the October summit, where Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez defended Spain’s 600,000-migrant plan.

Via Euronews (Vincenzo Genovese, Oct. 26) and Agenzia Nova (Oct. 25).

If you find reporting like this useful, consider supporting Canada News Media, an independent Canadian newsroom with no corporate parent.