Chant of “send them back” have erupted in the European Parliament after right-wing and conservative groups combined to approve the EU’s strictest-ever migration law.
The Returns Regulation, which will streamline and speed up mass deportations of illegal immigrants, was approved by 418 votes to 218 with 30 abstentions on Wednesday.
Right-wing MEPs cheered when the result was announced and some chanted “send them back”, while a smaller group of leftist lawmakers responded by shouting “shame on you”.
The legislation passed after the European People’s Party (EPP) allied themselves with the right-wing European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR), the Patriots for Europe (PfE), and Europe of Sovereign Nations (ESN).
PfE president Jordan Bardella, who is also the president of right-wing French party National Rally, said after the vote that there was now a “consensus to harden Europe’s migration policy”, thanks to the EPP managing to “shake off the Stockholm syndrome it was suffering from”.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni also described the vote as a great success, and Charlie Weimers from the Sweden Democrats wrote on X: “Done deal: Mass deportations from Europe will soon become reality.”
The regulation allows EU countries to set up deportation centres called “return hubs” in non-EU states, which can serve as holding facilities or transit centres for illegal immigrants, including families with children, although unaccompanied minors will be exempt.
The new law also allows authorities to search homes and “other relevant premises” for illegals, imposes longer detention periods and tougher entry bans, and changes the appeals process to end the automatic suspension of deportations while legal challenges are pending.
Illegal immigrants will be able to be held for a maximum of two years while awaiting deportation, up from the current six months, with a possible six-month extension and no limits for those deemed a security risk.
Entry ban durations are doubled from five to ten years, and illegal immigrants considered security risks can now be excluded from the EU for life.
Some EU countries and right-wing parties had demanded a much tougher version of the legislation that would have refused entry to anyone not granted asylum and impose lifetime bans for anyone illegally entering the EU.
Header image: MEPs clapping after the vote (Christian Creutz, European Union 2026, EP)
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