Statewatch

The 14th issue of the #ExternalisationBulletin is out now.

This month’s bulletin contains details about the EU's newest plan for 'degressive’ reintegration support, other means of ‘incentivising’ self-deportations, and twenty newly-obtained Council documents.

As ever, we hope this bulletin brings some clarity. If you would like to recieve the bulletin and our detailed overview straight to your inbox, sign up to our mailing list here: https://www.statewatch.org/outsourcing-borders-monitoring-eu-externalisation-policy/mailing-list/

Will you help us improve our work?

We've put together a survey on our work in 2025 to understand what you got out of it and how we can improve.

It should only take you a few minutes, but it will be a huge help for us!

Fill it out here: https://statewcloud.gn.apc.org/index.php/apps/forms/s/E59gc8qDcwH8Wx577RtLBS9p

The EU must withdraw all provisions to expand and normalise immigration raids and surveillance measures under the proposed Deportation (“Return”) Regulation.

This is why we joined 87 other organisations in a statement calling on policymakers, public authorities, public service workers, civil society organisations and communities across Europe to reject detection in all its forms.

Read the statement: https://www.statewatch.org/news/2026/february/joint-statement-condemning-eu-law-enabling-home-raids-policing-of-public-services-and-racial-profiling/
Read the article by @guardian@mastodon.world: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/feb/16/eu-deportations-plan-ice-style-enforcement-rights-groups-warn

The EU's supposedly “new and innovative solution” to migration is a re-packaged and previously rejected one.

The document we obtained shows EU policy-makers latest idea is to rely on 'place of safety arrangements'. Formerly called 'disembarkation platforms', the idea is to pay non-EU states to intercept and detain people at sea, before they can reach European shores.

Read more in the article by Frey Lindsay: https://www.statewatch.org/news/2026/january/the-eu-s-new-and-innovative-solution-to-migration-pay-other-countries-to-intercept-people/

Register now for the upcoming event, AI in the Field of Asylum and Immigration Law, to hear more from Statewatch researcher Romain Lanneau.

Host: ERA Academy of European Law
Dates: 9-10 March 2026
Location: Online

More details and registration info:
https://www.era.int/event/artificial-intelligence-in-the-field-of-asylum-and-immigration/

We've just published a document that details the EU's disturbing plans to expand cross-border travel surveillance.

Here is an overview:
• Plans are being discussed to extend police data collection to sea, rail and road travel.
• Governments want to use travel data for new purposes, such as immigration control.
• Changes could bypass necessary safeguards laid down by the EU Court of Justice
• A working group to discuss plans has been set up

Read more: https://www.statewatch.org/news/2026/eu-member-states-want-to-expand-police-surveillance-of-travel/

Are the EU's border policy plans similar to the US?

Listen in as Statewatch journalist Frey Lindsay shares the answer on Lagos Talks radio.

Want to help change the direction? Follow our bulletin, Outsourcing borders, here: https://www.statewatch.org/outsourcing-borders-monitoring-eu-externalisation-policy/mailing-list/

UK: A recent court case has exposed Nick Gratwick as a private spy known as ‘Radio Nick’.

The UK police had hired him to infiltrate animal rights and environmental campaign groups for almost a decade.

Now, a new report by the Undercover Research Group's Eveline Lubbers and Donal O’Driscoll details Gratwick’s activities throughout the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Read the details of the report here: https://www.statewatch.org/news/2025/december/uk-radio-nick-a-private-spy-hired-by-the-police/

As state powers of repression are globalised, so too must our resistance, advocacy and collaboration.

We released our research, Networks of [in]security (NOIS), as a living resource to help us do that. We hope you consider this resource as an invitation to use these findings, ask questions, expose harms, and challenge the spread of surveillance tools.

Read more and get in contact: https://buff.ly/MbWx0na

Governments are increasingly engaging in transnational repression: reaching across borders to silence dissent from afar.

This can include assassinations, illegal deportations, abductions, digital threats, Interpol abuse, and family intimidation.

With more states being connected to watchlisting systems and more governments with an authoritarian bent coming to power, transnational repression seems likely to continue.

Unless we work together to oppose it.

Read more: nois.statewatch.org

According Info Park, an organisation in Belgrade, Serbia, people on the move along the Western Balkan route face a cycle of of detention, transfers, and endless reattempts.

The EU's new pact on migration will only worsen these brutal realities.

Info Park makes it clear: border externalisation, like the “migration management” complex it is a part of, is not a neutral administrative tool.

It is a political project of exclusion.

Read more: https://www.statewatch.org/analyses/2025/how-the-eu-migration-pact-will-increase-harms-in-serbia-and-along-the-balkan-route/

The 12th issue of the #ExternalisationBulletin is out now 🚨

This edition covers:

• Efforts to expand Frontex’s mandate
• Growing concerns over the EU’s digital border systems
• Dutch and Belgian governments threaten to undermine EU's new migration "solidarity" system
• The latest moves on Safe Third Country rules, deportations to Afghanistan and the EUAA’s incoming Syria update

And much more, here: https://buff.ly/GK3RMMW

Sign up to our mailing list: https://buff.ly/PqTARAJ

The “war on terror” might have left the headlines—but states are still using and abusing ‘counterterrorism’ powers to exert control.

Through watchlisting, surveillance and border control, they have built vast networks of [in]security. With these, they silence, oppress, and restrict the movement of people all over the world.

And for the past two years, we have been gathering evidence to show exactly how they do it.

Swipe to read some of our key findings, or go to nois.statewatch.org

1/ We’ve just launched a new in-depth resource that examines global counter-terrorism and security networks.

It provides an evidence base for how these security norms are implemented, their effects on human rights and how we can push for change.

Background:

From the beginning of the “war on terror”, governments introduced many policing and surveillance powers. Since then, these have been increasingly exploited to restrict dissent, movement, and critique.

In October 2024 the EU announced it would provide €30 million from its aid budget to Senegal.

Claims about the funding say it will go toward stepping up the fight against migrant smuggling. This means it will support:
• border surveillance and control
• maritime interception
• detention infrastructure

Ultimately, the plans can be seen as contributing to a new era of carceral EU migration “management” in West Africa.

Read more in the latest article by Leonie Jegen:

https://www.statewatch.org/analyses/2025/exporting-carceral-migration-management-30-million-from-the-eu-to-senegal-for-migration-control/

According to a document we obtained, EU member states seem ready to give US law enforcement authorities direct access to European police and immigration databases.

They may also be seeking access to other EU databases — a level of access that would be unprecedented for a 'third country'.

While some member states have concerns over specifics, none question the need for such an agreement.

Read more:

The use of personal data in the EU’s border, immigration and asylum regimes has intensified over the last decade, and the dangers of inaccurate data have worsened.

Data protection law is a crucial tool for immigration and asylum practitioners up against this increasing ‘datafication’. Its avenues for redress offer alternative paths to justice for those who might otherwise be without options.

If you'd like to understand paths, get our Data Protection Handbook, here: https://www.statewatch.org/news/2025/october/eu-new-handbook-offers-guide-to-privacy-and-data-protection-for-immigration-and-asylum-practitioners/

Why should you care about data protection law? Because as the EU increases its datafication, we need to equip ourselves to protect our data.

Get the handbook now: https://www.statewatch.org/news/2025/october/eu-new-handbook-offers-guide-to-privacy-and-data-protection-for-immigration-and-asylum-practitioners/