European Parliament approves new Deportation Regulation despite warnings from health professionals and NGOs

This week, the European Union voted in favour of a revised Return Regulation legislation, the remaining pillar of the Pact on Migration and Asylum, under implementation across EU nations this month. 

The Regulation introduces a new framework for deportation and returns procedures across the European Union. It includes provisions for so-called “return hubs” outside EU territory, expands the use of detention, and strengthens powers to identify and deport undocumented people. 

Doctors of the World has repeatedly warned EU lawmakers about the health consequences of these measures. They have called for the Regulation’s rejection, alongside over 250 civil society organisations and 1,300 health workers across the EU. 

Many will be too afraid to seek healthcare  

The new rules introduce measures designed to identify undocumented people for deportation. In practice, this risks turning everyday spaces into sites of immigration enforcement. When people fear being identified, detained or deported, they avoid seeking healthcare, accessing social services, reporting violence, or requesting support. 

Healthcare systems rely on trust. Patients must be able to seek treatment without fear that their personal information will be used against them. Doctors of the World is deeply concerned that the expansion of immigration enforcement measures will erode this trust and block people from accessing care. 

Detention, Deportation and Medical Confidentiality

As revealed earlier this month, the revised regulation permits a 30-month detention period for people facing a deportation order.  During this period, the EU’s rights framework cannot be guaranteed, and access to healthcare as a human right will not be secured. 

People may be deported to countries they have no connection to, and families with children will end up detained. Doctors of the World has repeatedly warned that this will jeopardise access to healthcare, legal safeguards and patient trust.  

The regulation allows medical data to be shared with immigration authorities and third countries for the purposes of deportation. It places healthcare professionals in an impossible position: between their duty of care and an obligation to legal enforcement. The trust between patients and providers that effective healthcare depends on will be destroyed. 

In the UK, immigration enforcement have been escalating for years. Public services and the NHS are required to provide Home Office immigration enforcement with patient data as part of the Conservative Government’s Hostile Environment policy.  

As Anna Miller, Head of UK Policy & Advocacy at Doctors of the World UK said: “in the UK we see patients too afraid to go forward to the NHS and it leads to an ICE-style raid at their home address. This EU regulation risks creating the same climate of fear across the EU, driving people away from healthcare services, with serious consequences for individuals and for public health systems.” 

Healthcare is a Human Right  

Healthcare is a human right in international and European law and must be protected.  

“The right to health does not stop at a border, and it does not depend on a residence permit. Migration policy is a health policy because every decision made about how people are screened, detained, transferred, or deported has direct consequences for physical and mental health. Yet once again, the EU has adopted major migration legislation without any serious assessment of its health impact. That cannot continue.” said Andrea Soler, Migration & Humanitarian Advocacy Advisor, Doctors of the World. 

Doctors of the World will continue to address the human and health impact of what has been adopted today. We will challenge its implementation wherever human rights are violated, and support the communities affected.  

As Europe implements this framework, alongside the international rise of far-right groups and their anti-immigration narratives, public authorities must ensure that access to care remains protected. Fear must never become a barrier to health.