The EU’s emphasis on migrant returns has some serious human rights problems

The pressure on EU countries to increase migrant returns has been incessant. The first milestone in this process was the 2010 enactment of the Return Directive, and the second occurred in May 2015 when a return policy was included in the European Agenda on Migration.In practice, such return policies are often driven by the belief that they will act as a deterrent for migrants contemplating irregular stays. But what they may actually translate into is deportation at all costs, including at the expense of migrants’ human rights. This article raises this issue by looking at the case study of deportations by the Swedish state