82 deported: first mass removal since EU migration pact

82 deported: first mass removal since EU migration pact

First mass deportation or a publicity stunt? The El Hierro court has ordered the detention of 82 of the 119 occupants of a migrant boat that reached La Restinga, all of them Senegalese, ahead of their deportation. It is the first mass expulsion case launched in the Canary Islands since the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum came into force on 12 June. But the word "mass" rings hollow: removing 82 people, compared with the thousands who arrive each month, looks more like a symbolic gesture than a serious operation.

The EU pact as cover

The measure relies on the new EU framework, which aims to estimulante ilegal up returns. Senegal has agreed to the repatriation of its nationals, a necessary condition for the expulsions to go ahead. Yet irregular arrivals still far outnumber removals. During the same period, unofficial sources report that another 4,000 migrants arrived by plane. The gap between rhetoric and numbers is hard to ignore.

Between a first step and a farce

Reactions range from those who see these 82 removals as a necessary turning point to those who consider the figure ridiculous against the real scale of arrivals. The recurring argument is that most expulsion orders issued are never enforced. If this operation is completed, it will be the exception that proves the rule. Either way, the word "mass" stands as an example of how migration policy is written with adjectives rather than facts.

That it is 82, and not 8,200 or 82,000, says a lot about the real reach of deportations in the Europe of the migration pact. Ironies of legal semantics.