The European Parliament approved a major migration policy overhaul Wednesday to increase deportations and permit member states to establish detention centers abroad, a move critics say creates a harsh system that undermines protections for asylum-seekers.
The move underlines the rise in anti-immigration sentiment across the European Union over the past decade that has broadened popular support for far-right parties.
The text, which requires final formal approval from the 27 EU member governments, marks a sharp hardening of EU migration policy that has taken shape since an influx of over a million refugees and migrants in 2015-16.
"The Return Regulation will provide the necessary tools to make returns more efficient, with faster and more effective procedures," European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a letter Tuesday addressed to member states ahead of a meeting of EU leaders in Brussels.
EU countries say they struggle to ensure that rejected asylum-seekers and people who overstay their visas leave their territory.
