The Dutch government is moving ahead with its plans to establish “return hubs” outside E.U. territory to deport migrants and process asylum applications.
The proposal, which reportedly boasts “concrete steps” towards its fruition, is expected to go ahead over the next months.
Politico reports that it obtained a copy of a letter issued by the Dutch government indicating to the nation’s parliament that a legal review found no obstacles to setting up the return hubs and external asylum processing. The legal review was conducted by The Hague-based think tank Clingendael.
The plans would avoid having migrants stay in a country here they have been refused asylum for extended periods of time simply because their respective countries would not readmit them.
“Across Europe, people are asking for credible and workable solutions to regain control over migration,” Bart van den Brink, deputy prime minister of the Netherlands and minister of asylum and migration, said, per Politico.
“Those solutions are increasingly taking shape and have been shown to be legally viable,” he continued.
An unnamed E.U. diplomat who spoke with Politico on condition of anonymity affirmed that The Netherlands is exploring options towards processing asylum applications outside Europe alongside Denmark, Malta, and Sweden. The plans would follow the same guidelines as the return hubs, prioritizing only those who have been approved for asylum.
Per the source, the Dutch government, led by Prime Minster Rob Jetten, is presently in talks with prospective candidate countries for the center and it is likely that the location for the first return hub facility will be announced within the next six to seven months.
“The idea is not to make a political spectacle out of this but to do the actual legal work so that this actually sticks,” the source reportedly said.
Politico detailed that the first such return hub that the Dutch government’s plans call for would not be used just by the Netherlands, but by Germany, Austria, Denmark, and Greece as well. These five countries have called upon the E.U. to take a tougher stance at cracking down Europe’s migrant crisis — including the creation of “return hubs” in third countries to deport illegal migrants to their respective countries
The Dutch government’s plans come as the European Union finds itself in talks towards implementing a new “Pact on Migration and Asylum” that, among other migration reforms, paves the way for the establishment of return hubs for migrants in the E.U.
The new E.U. migrant pact is set to take legal effect on June 12, 2026.