Waerp E (2025)
Publication Type: Journal article
Publication year: 2025
DOI: 10.1080/08865655.2025.2504886
The focus on returns at the EU-level intensified in the last year, with EUropean policymakers asserting that less than a quarter of those who are issued with a return decision return to their country of origin. This commentary investigates this ostensible ‘return conundrum’, examining both its framing and the interpretation of the data that it rests on. It uses this term to refer to the low level of returns carried out compared to the number of return decisions issued and detections of ‘illegal’ border crossings at the external borders. By analyzing Frontex’s statistics on returns from 2010-2024, I argue that the evidence base that this conundrum springs from is at least partially exaggerated since the reports potentially double count return decisions issued and non-counts all voluntary returns. This is because Frontex counts the number of return decisions issued rather than the number of people who are subject to a return decision, which inflates the statistics since multiple return decisions might be issued to the same person. On the other hand, until recently not all member states systematically monitored voluntary returns, which means that they have been undercounted.
APA:
Waerp, E. (2025). EUrope’s Exaggerated Return Conundrum. Journal of Borderlands Studies. https://doi.org/10.1080/08865655.2025.2504886
MLA:
Waerp, Eline. "EUrope’s Exaggerated Return Conundrum." Journal of Borderlands Studies (2025).
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