Good morning from Brussels. I’m Mared Gwyn, holding the newsletter pen again this Tuesday.
We start with historic changes to the EU’s migration laws, rubber-stamped late last night by EU negotiators. Our reporter Vincenzo Genovese, who followed the talks, writes that the new rules will allow member states to dramatically expand their deportation powers -- marking the most hardline turn in EU migration policy in decades.
Here’s what changes, in a nutshell:
EU member states can strike bilateral deals with distant countries to build so-called ‘return hubs’ on their territory and send irregular migrants there. The hubs can be either places of transit or locations where a person is expected to stay.
National authorities can conduct raids on sites associated with an irregular migrant, a provision that has been likened by critics to the tactics of the US’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE.
