The EU is increasingly using digital technology to control people both at its borders and in immigration procedures. Despite being sold as a neutral means to manage migration, digital technology replicates the biases of those who design it and risks leading to more discriminatory policing and profiling. We have published a new brief that looks at what this means for undocumented migrants and for civil society.

One of the tools that digital technology encompasses is artificial intelligence, that is, programmes and machines that perform human-like tasks, based on an initial input. As the European Parliament and Council are negotiating draft legislation (the “AI Act”) that regulates the use of artificial intelligence, we have joined digital rights and other human rights groups to call for a full protection of people on the move.

In coalition with Access Now, European Digital Rights, Migration and Technology Monitor and Statewatch, we put forward a set of recommendations that aim at:

Frontex Director Fabrice Leggeri tendered his resignation on 29 April. Leggeri had led the agency, which has come under scrutiny for its alleged role in illegal pushbacks of migrants, since 2015. The development is linked to investigations by the EU’s anti-fraud office into allegations of harassment, misconduct and pushbacks.

Statewatch published a decision of the Frontex management board on the agency’s technical equipment for 2023, which foresees lethal weapons, various surveillance devices such as drones, vehicles, aircrafts, as well as personal equipment like metal handcuffs, a rubber elastic baton, telescopic batons, and two types of knives.

Andrea Costa, head of Rome-based charity reception centre Baobab, was acquitted of migrant smuggling charges on 3 May, after helping some migrants travel by bus to the French border in 2016. The Baobab reception center had been cleared a few days before, and several migrants were being transferred to a centre for identification. Before the acquittal, Costa was risking up to 18 years in jail.

In a new briefing paper, the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) shows that the criminalisation of assistance can deter help towards migrants, thus depriving them of vital support. The EU legal framework, especially the 2002 EU Facilitation Directive, is found to breach international law, in that it allows the criminalisation of intentional assistance to migrants under the premise of migrant smuggling. ICJ recommends introducing strict requirements around the “intention of gaining profit” and a mandatory non-criminalisation of humanitarian assistance in this Directive.

Three Syrian refugees were facing life sentences after their boat capsized when trying to reach Italy from Turkey, which resulted in the deaths of 18 people. Despite dropping the charges for murder and recognising that they did not act for profit nor did they belong to any criminal organisation, they were accused of “facilitating unauthorised entry” and sentenced to 187 years (as “captain”) and 126 years each as the “mechanic” and the “assistant”, according to Borderline Europe. In recent years many migrants trying to reach Europe have been accused of human smuggling for steering boats and sentenced to life-long imprisonment in Greece.

The European division of the World Health Organisation published a report that highlights the severe and long-lasting impacts of immigration detention on an undocumented person’s health, particularly their mental health, during and after the detention. This report finds that people in immigration detention are at a high risk of experiencing health problems such as depression, anxiety, PTSD, personality disorders, suicidal ideation, a sense of powerlessness and self-harm. WHO/Europe argues that more dignified alternatives must always be prioritised over detention, which is harmful, disproportionate and exacerbates vulnerabilities.

In March 2022, the Danish government enacted a special law that grants Ukrainians temporary protection status and exempts them from the need to earn a minimum salary, which is otherwise required for third-country nationals to get a residence permit in Denmark. Despite being framed as a tool to facilitate access to residency for this group, Danish employers can now offer wages to Ukrainians below those negotiated in the collective bargaining agreements, especially in the agri-food sector where most Ukrainians in Denmark already work. Reports now show job advertisements on Facebook (in Ukrainian) offering jobs for less than 7 euros per hour, far lower than their entitlements under the collective bargaining agreement.

PICUM published a new guide that sets out the rights of undocumented workers under international and EU law, and references relevant case law from the EU Court of Justice and the European Court of Human Rights. Issues addressed include wage theft, excessive working hours, confiscation of documents, workplace discrimination, unsafe working conditions and labour accidents, human trafficking, and forced labour. This guide seeks to support and promote the use of existing legal frameworks to claim the rights of undocumented workers, as well as work to reform problematic laws and address gaps in implementation.

A citizen initiative in Finland is asking the parliament to implement legislation that would grant a four-year residence permit to people who were denied asylum before 2017 and have been undocumented since. Since the petition surpassed the required 50,000 signatures, it is now heading to the Finnish Parliament for debate.

The OECD published a report on the policy responses to Ukrainians fleeing the war in the OECD region. Removal of Ukrainian nationals in an irregular situation in EU/OECD countries is either suspended or postponed. In Spain, the temporary protection is extended to any person affected by the conflict, including Ukrainian nationals in an irregular situation on the Spanish territory. In several other EU Member States, lodging an application for international protection (Lithuania, Bulgaria, Malta, Poland, Italy), temporary protection (Belgium), or both (Finland, Latvia), remains an option for undocumented Ukrainians in those countries.

The municipality of Hamburg issued a temporary residence permit (Fiktionsbescheinigung) to non-Ukrainian students who were studying in Ukraine when the war broke out. The six-month permit grants access to health insurance, includes a work permit, and allows the holder to apply for a study or job-related longer-term residence permit in Germany. To be eligible for the temporary permit, students must prove they were residing in Ukraine and were enrolled at a Ukrainian university.