Belgium's parliament has approved a law that will allow police to forcibly enter homes without consent to remove undocumented migrants, a measure rights campaigners have likened to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids under Donald Trump's administration.
The law, which takes effect next spring, gives the Belgian immigration office the power to ask an investigating judge to authorise entry into residences that may be housing anyone without papers, including homes where migrants are hosted by friends or family. With a warrant, police can enter between 5am and 9pm, detain people, and search for identity documents, potentially in the presence of children.
Widespread opposition and protests
In the run-up to the parliamentary vote last Friday, more than 60 protests were held across the country, adding to criticism from NGOs, judges, and lawyers' associations. Some have drawn parallels with the US, where ICE arrests have soared under Trump's administration.
Carine Thibaut, director of Amnesty International's French-speaking Belgian section, called the law "a law of fear," citing the impact on children and on people who had opened their homes to migrants. "It really disseminates fear," she said.
Critics question vague definitions
Officials have said the measures will target people denied asylum who ignored orders to leave and are seen as a threat to public order or national security. However, critics argue the law is vague on what constitutes a public threat, citing cases where these terms were used for people who had carried out undeclared work, run a red light, or shoplifted.
According to Amnesty International, judges would not have full investigative powers and would be limited on who they could ask for additional information, while the legislation fails to provide a means for people to appeal decisions. Thibaut said, "They always say it's for criminals. We always answer that they already have all the tools to address this problem, because they can do that through the normal justice system."
Comparisons with other EU states
Chiara Catelli, an advocacy officer at the Brussels-based Platform for International Cooperation on Undocumented Migrants (Picum), said, "This really has nothing to do with people who have committed crimes. It's really about wanting to return people, deporting people, which is an administrative procedure." She added, "We've all seen the devastating consequences of home raids in the US, where they fuel fear and violence and tear families apart. It's deeply alarming that an EU member state is now moving in the same direction."
Catelli noted that similar measures were already in place in the Netherlands and Germany, and the EU's recently approved returns regulation includes similar provisions, meaning other member states could soon adopt comparable measures. "We're really afraid that this is the beginning of something that will become more widespread," she said.
Thibaut warned the measures would gradually erode rights for everyone: "It's the beginning of reducing the state of law and the respect for human rights. This time it is for people without papers; after that, it might be people who are using drugs. That's the way you slowly, slowly dismantle a society based on human rights, on respect for justice and on separation of powers."
