The European Union no longer uses the term “deportation,” and instead says “returned” when referring to migrants expelled from Europe.
Margaritis Schinas, the European Commission’s chief spokesman, was asked to provide an update on the EU’s deportations of failed asylum seekers during a press briefing Wednesday. Schinas corrected the reporter on his word choice, and clarified that “deportations is a term we prefer to forget in Europe.”
Schinas and the EU instead refer to expelled asylum seekers as “returned” to their home countries.
Schinas’s sensitivity for the word may stem from its usage during the Holocaust. The term became synonymous with Jews getting sent to concentration camps.
Regardless of the term used, the EU does not seem to want to halt the number of “returned” asylum seekers. A deal struck with Turkey in March aims at returning all new arrivals quickly, in exchange for a migrant following procedures in Turkey.
The latest move is to hand out debit cards and monthly cash transfers to deportees, as part of a $393 million package announced Thursday.
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