Moroccan migrants face rising EU deportation orders

Wednesday 02 April 2025 - 10:50

By: Dakir Madiha

Moroccan migrants face rising EU deportation orders

Migrants from Morocco ranked among the top three nationalities subject to expulsion orders from European Union countries in the last quarter of 2023, according to recent Eurostat data.

During this period, EU member states issued nearly 125,000 expulsion orders against migrants who entered the bloc illegally. However, only 28,630 of these orders were executed, marking a 24.3% increase in returns compared to the same quarter in the previous year. This trend reflects a broader pattern, with deportations increasing by 3.3% and expulsion orders rising by 11.5% from the previous quarter.

In terms of deportation orders, Algerian migrants topped the list with 11,362 orders issued, followed by Syrians with 8,674 and Moroccans with 8,561. Notably, the highest actual deportations involved migrants from Georgia (3,351), Turkey (2,492), and Albania (1,982).

A restricted report from the European Commission, obtained by the organization Statewatch, indicates that Morocco has one of the lowest rates of cooperation in accepting the return of its citizens who entered the EU irregularly. The study, which assessed the deportation cooperation of 34 countries, revealed that Morocco accepted only 8% of the return decisions issued by EU states for Moroccan nationals in 2023.

This low acceptance rate is particularly striking given that Morocco had the highest number of citizens irregularly crossing into Europe among African nations, as reported by the Spanish newspaper El País. In total, EU countries ordered 35,065 Moroccan nationals to leave their territories in 2023, yet only 2,760 were actually deported back to Morocco.

France issued the highest number of deportation orders, totaling 31,880, while Spain and Germany followed with 18,645 and 15,135 orders, respectively. The countries with the most successful expulsions included Germany (6,170 migrants returned), France (3,705), and Sweden (2,600).