Belgium’s parliament has approved a law allowing police to enter private homes between 5 am and 9 am to detain foreign nationals facing deportation, after a debate that stretched into the early hours of Friday morning. The measure has reignited concerns over privacy, family life and due process at a time when the European Union is considering more coercive return rules.

The law allows the Immigration Office to ask an investigating judge to authorize police to enter a residence where a person may be staying who has been denied asylum, ignored an order to leave Belgium and is considered a threat to public order or national security. Police may search for identity documents and detain the person for removal, with immigration officials present.

The power also extends to homes where the person is staying with relatives, friends or other hosts. The government presents the measure as a narrowly targeted tool for enforcing removal decisions, but human rights groups say it risks turning private homes into sites of immigration enforcement.

Critics argue that the threshold of a “threat to public order or national security” is not defined clearly enough, creating uncertainty about how the power will be applied. The government, however, presents the measure as a narrowly targeted tool for enforcing removal decisions.

The legislation is part of a broader push by Prime Minister Bart De Wever’s right-leaning coalition to limit migration and increase expulsions of people denied the right to stay in Belgium.

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A vote during a government crisis

The law passed while Belgium’s governing “Arizona” coalition faces one of its most serious tests since taking office, The Brussels Times reported. Earlier this week, De Wever submitted his government’s resignation to King Philippe after coalition talks on the 2027 budget and a package of fiscal measures worth about 10 billion euros by 2029 ended without agreement.

The King has kept the resignation under consideration while consulting the leaders of the five-party coalition -- De Wever’s conservative Flemish nationalist N-VA, the liberal MR, the centrist Les Engages, the social democratic Vooruit and the Christian democratic CD&V.

The governing coalition and the liberal opposition party Anders backed the law. Asylum and Migration Minister Anneleen Van Bossuyt told Le Soir that it fills a gap by providing a tool to execute certain removal orders, while Les Engages group leader Aurore Tourneur said the final text’s conditions are “strict and cumulative.”

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Amnesty International: ‘bound to sow fear’

Ahead of the vote, Amnesty International warned that the legislation would have consequences beyond the people directly targeted. Dinushika Dissanayake, the organization’s deputy regional director, said the proposals were “bound to sow fear and division.”

She warned of intrusions into private and family life "irrespective of whether children are present," saying the bill offered no effective means to challenge home-entry decisions.

Dissanayake also highlighted the potential effect on people who provide accommodation or other support to migrants, including friends and relatives.

“Belgium has a strong tradition of showing solidarity toward migrant communities, with many people opening their doors and homes to offer beds, food and support -- as is their prerogative. This will discourage people from doing so in future.”

In addition, she stressed that these proposals "will tear communities apart and make everyday life more dangerous, complicated and frightening for ordinary people” Amnesty urged lawmakers to reject the bill and any attempt to "scapegoat migrants."

Sotieta Ngo, executive director of CIRE, said the bill violated the constitutional principle that the home is inviolable. “It’s an attack against human dignity. It’s an attack against solidarity.”

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The EU Return Regulation

The Belgian debate also has a European dimension. In October, EU governments adopted the Return Regulation, establishing a common system for returning third-country nationals who do not have a legal right to remain in the EU.

The regulation is intended to make returns more effective by strengthening cooperation with countries of origin and transit, expanding border surveillance and accelerating removal procedures. It forms part of a wider EU effort to reinforce external borders and increase Frontex’s role in returns.

Under the rules, detention can become the default for people issued deportation decisions, potentially for up to two and a half years. The regulation also expands obligations, surveillance and sanctions on people subject to deportation, including requirements that may be difficult to meet for people without identity documents or a fixed address.

Crucially for the Belgian debate, the regulation allows authorities to enter a person’s home or “other relevant premises” and seize belongings. Amnesty International says this could enable extensive surveillance, discriminatory policing and racial profiling.

Belgium’s law is national, but it reflects the direction of EU policy -- more enforcement, more home entry, more identity-document checks, and security-based exceptions to ordinary procedural protections. Rights groups argue that this makes the Belgian vote part of a wider European shift toward more coercive migration control.

Separately, the European Commission proposed expanding Frontex’s mandate on October 27, giving the EU border agency a larger role in coordinating deportations and supporting returns between non-EU countries. The plan would expand its standing corps to 30,000 officers and introduce social media monitoring; the Commission says it would improve operational effectiveness while maintaining rights protections. Amnesty International has warned that the proposed expansion could outpace human rights safeguards.

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More safeguards but concerns remain

The final text includes safeguards introduced after pressure from civil society and coalition partner Les Engages. Investigating judges have seven days, rather than five, to authorize a home visit, repeat requests require new information and judges may impose conditions where minors are present.

But the safeguards have not resolved concerns about how the law will operate in practice. Koen Dewulf, director of the Federal Migration Center Myria, told Le Soir that the definition of a threat to public order or national security remains vague and open to interpretation.

The Association of Investigating Judges has raised a separate objection. Its co-president, Jean-Louis Doyen, said authorizing home entry for an administrative deportation differs fundamentally from the criminal investigations that fall within an investigating judge’s usual remit.

Andrea Rea, chair of the board of CIRE, has also questioned the availability of remedies for undocumented migrants and the people hosting them. He warned that the legislation could face a challenge before Belgium’s Constitutional Court.

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A wider political fight

The vote followed demonstrations across Belgium, including a human chain of around 3,000 people around Brussels’ Palace of Justice and more than 50 other gatherings nationwide.

Amnesty International argues that the law should also be understood in a social and economic context. In its statement, Dissanayake said politicians should not use migration enforcement to divert attention from insecurity affecting the wider population.

“At a time when the cost of living is soaring and economic insecurity is gripping millions across the country, politicians must not deflect attention by targeting one of the most marginalized groups in society.”

The law’s practical impact will depend on judicial interpretation, police guidance and possible constitutional challenges.

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With Reuters