Police and lawyers criticise draft bill on migrant home raids
Police, lawyers, judges and opposition MPs have criticised a draft bill that would allow officials to enter private homes to detain undocumented migrants facing deportation.
The aim of the draft bill put forward by Asylum minister Anneleen Van Bossuyt (N-VA) and Justice minister Annelies Verlinden (CD&V) is to make it easier to deport people residing in Belgium illegally who refuse to cooperate with the return process. This is conditional on them posing a threat to public order or national security, and on an investigating judge granting authorisation.
Campaigners say the legislation would grant police sweeping powers to enter homes occupied by undocumented migrants or by people providing them with accommodation.
Searches would be carried out by officials from the Immigration Office, in collaboration with the police. However, the police see a number of practical objections, the House Committee on Home Affairs heard on Tuesday.
It was argued that the law contains numerous loopholes and fails to clarify what is expected of officers, what they are permitted to do, and the legal basis on which they act. “One cannot expect the police to interpret the law and fill in the gaps themselves in an emergency situation,” Eric Garbar of the federal judicial police said.
According to Gert Vercauteren, director of Belgium’s Coordination Unit for Threat Analysis, the draft bill “could potentially offer added value” if “there is agreement from the country of origin and the person refuses to cooperate with their return”. “It is difficult to estimate at this stage whether this will happen frequently; that will have to be seen in practice,” he said.
"One cannot expect the police to interpret the law and fill in the gaps themselves in an emergency situation"
Marc Bossuyt, former president of the Constitutional Court, was the only speaker to express explicit support. He advocated for such a bill in 2018, as chair of the Bossuyt Committee, which examined Belgium’s return policy.
Under the draft bill, judges are given five days to decide whether a search can be carried out, from the point the Immigration Office forwards the file. According to Claire Bruyneel of the Association of Investigating Judges, this is not enough time.
She said it was unrealistic for an official from the Immigration Office to carry out a home search alongside the police, even in cases involving individuals suspected of terrorist offences.
The bar associations are also critical of the draft. “In many respects, it constitutes an unlawful infringement of several fundamental rights enshrined in the Constitution or in a higher legal order,” said Kati Verstrepen of the Flemish Bar Association.
For example, there are no safeguards for those who provide accommodation to people residing illegally. “If damage is caused to a property during a search, they can do nothing about it,” she said.
MP Matti Vandemaele of opposition party Groen said the government would be better off shelving the plan. “If I were in the majority, I would listen to the experts, save myself the trouble of the next hearing and withdraw this nonsense,” he said.
The federal migration centre Myria also spoke in the Chamber. Deputy director Ina Vandenberghe said there were insufficient safeguards for vulnerable individuals and children.
"If I were in the majority, I would listen to the experts, save myself the trouble of the next hearing and withdraw this nonsense"
N-VA MP Maaike De Vreese quoted from a chart by Myria, which shows that only 9 per cent of undocumented migrants who are apprehended in cases involving “public order issues” end up in a closed return centre.
“What are we supposed to do if we want to return these people to their country of origin in an effective and efficient manner?" she asked. She said many safeguards had been built into the draft bill and that home searches “have long been standard practice in many other EU countries”.
Minister for Asylum and Migration Anneleen Van Bossuyt at a plenary session of the Chamber at the federal parliament, Brussels, 18 June 2026 © PHOTO WERNER LEROOY
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