A record number of convicted offenders without residence permits have been deported from Belgian prisons to their countries of origin this year, according to figures cited by De Standaard from Asylum and Migration Minister Anneleen Van Bossuyt.
So far this year, 1,239 offenders have been forcibly returned after serving all or most of their sentences in Belgium. The previous record was set in 2017, when 1,112 people were removed in the first eight months of the year.
By comparison, 991 people were deported last year and 828 in 2024. The figures concern people without valid residence papers who had served nearly all or all of their prison terms in Belgium. Most of those deported were sent to Morocco, with 233 returns, followed by Albania with 195 and Algeria with 138.
Van Bossuyt told De Standaard the increase was “the direct result of a clear political priority, good co-operation with the justice system, and greater investment in capacity and staff”.
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In April, Foreign Minister Maxime Prévot and Van Bossuyt signed a return agreement with Algeria. Morocco also accepts the return of its nationals under agreements with the Belgian government that are renewed regularly.
However, Martin de Brabant, Schaerbeek’s acting mayor, criticised Van Bossuyt in the newspaper, saying the government was doing too little to return undocumented people arrested in his municipality to their countries of origin.
According to De Brabant, only 8 per cent of undocumented people arrested in Schaerbeek were deported.
