Migrants to be expelled in unmarked police cars
01 May 2003
The Italian Presidency of the Council of the European Union (the 15 EU governments) has put forward a proposal to: "terminate the illegal residence of third country nationals" by deporting them overland across the EU until: "the third country national has been finally removed from the territory of the Member States".
The proposal is for a Council Directive to be adopted that would be binding on member states (and is accompanied by another binding measure on joint returns by air, see below). As this comes under the Schengen acquis it is not binding on the UK (or Ireland) but the UK can opt in during the discussions or at any point in the future - in the past the UK has opted into a number of repressive EU immigration measures.
The Italian Presidency is proposing that migrants can be deported by land, to their country of origin or the last "safe" country they passed through, by use of:
public carriers such as scheduled buses, trains or unmarked police cars
"Unmarked police cars" could also include police vans. This would either involve a single vehicle from the deporting state passing through a number of EU states or migrants being passed over to vehicles from the state of transit.
The "escort personnel" of police officers will not carry guns but:"shall wear civilian clothes". They may also use "legitimate" force to:
deal with a serious immediate so as to prevent the third country national from escaping or from causing injury to himself [sic] or to others or damage to property
The police of the "requested state", that is, the state through which the unmarked police car is travelling, can:
use any possible legitimate "measure" to prevent or terminate acts of resistance offered by the third-country national when trying to evade the transit escort
Tony Bunyan, Statewatch editor, commented:
As we going to see people shackled to their seats on public trains and coaches or perhaps trains with "cattle trucks" chugging east, reminiscent of another time? How safe are migrants being transported in unmarked police cars or vans driven by plainclothes police officers going to be if they resist at any point? Will we ever know what happened to them if they do not arrive at their destination?
This proposal is indicative of a wider question, it is said that the EU tracks the whereabouts of every cow that leaves the Community to counter fraud but it has no idea where those expelled end up, whether they are alive or dead , free or imprisoned, fed or starving. Under this proposal responsibility ends when "the third country national has been finally removed from the territory of the Member States". Does the EU care more about cattle than people?
For full analysis and documentation see Statewatch News online: www.statewatch.org/news/2003/aug/01cattle.htm