DETENTION AND DEPORTATION

Detention and Deportation of Immigrants in the European Union

Table of Contents

Introduction3

Detention3

Forms of Detention3

Deportation3

Illegal Immigration3

Discussion5

The Human Rights of 'Illegal' Persons11

The Asylum Home and the Detention Centre13

Fortress Europe's “Iron Wall”15

Internal Repression Of Immigration Within The EU17

Conclusion20

References23

Introduction

Detention

Detention can be defined as the act of retaining a person or property and preventing the exclusion of the same. In other words, the holding of a person by state or government in a detention centre, either as punishment for a crime, for interrogation or as a precautionary measure while that person is suspected of posing a potential threat (Benhabib, 2004).

Forms of Detention

There are three basic forms of detention

Detention prior to expulsion

Detention by the border police at airports

Detention by border police at the border along the European countries borders

Deportation

Detention can be defined as carrying or sending away a person (by force); it can also be defined as leaving a country by official order.

Illegal Immigration

An alien (non-citizen) who has entered another country without Government permission or stayed beyond the termination date of a visa.

Discussion

Since the end of the year 2002, within the framework of its programmes to fight "illegal immigration", the European Union has issued proposals with a view to harmonising European laws on the removal and detention of people with a status as illegal immigrants. A Green Paper (April 2002), followed by a Commission Communication and a Council Action Plan on Returns (November 2002), provided for restrictive norms and common operational measures. The Union initially focussed on this second aspect: the Decision on EU charter flights (April 2004), the negotiation of readmission agreements (ongoing since 2000), the Directive on sharing the financial burden of removals, etc.

Commission aims to harmonise legislation on the detention and expulsion of "illegally staying" immigrants at a European level. It does not seek to protect people, but rather, to improve the effectiveness of expulsion. The idea is to furnish it, in concrete terms for its implementation, with a Fund for returns that is currently under discussion before the European Parliament (Benhabib, 2004).

The European Commission then sent its Proposal to the Council and the European Parliament, the two institutions responsible for reviewing its contents and its subsequent adoption, using the co-decision procedure in this field for the first time. This means that, unlike for previous directives, the Parliament's opinion is a binding opinion carrying the same weight as that of the Council.

The Directive is therefore currently being negotiated within the two institutions, in parallel.

On 12 September 2007, the Committee on Civil Liberties of the Parliament (hereafter LIBE committee) voted for a compromise on the report by the German MEP, Manfred Weber (PPE). A vote in plenary session was scheduled for 29 November 2007. The stakes are high for the MEPs who want the text to be adopted at all costs, as this would prove that the co-decision procedure is a reliable instrument and that the European Parliament is capable of negotiating matters as thorny as the fight against illegal immigration with the Council, and furthermore, involving legislative proposals (Derechos humanos en la frontiera ...