Removals 2020, publication of 21 January 2021

The count of removals of illegal aliens is broken down according to three types of removals reflecting different methods of handling irregular immigration:

1. Forced removals (A), characterised by the taking of an expulsion decision and its enforcement by coercion, which comprise the following categories:
   Returns of nationals of countries

— third parties outside the European Union;
— Readmission of third-country nationals to the European Union;
— Return of EU nationals to their country.

1. Aided removals (C), characterised by the implementation of a removal measure without coercion, through return assistance.

2. Spontaneous removals (B), without constraint and without assistance, after a removal measure, the accounting of which is necessarily partial.

Moreover, foreigners in an irregular situation may decide to leave the territory without having been the subject of an expulsion measure, while resorting to assistance. These are aided voluntary departures (D).

Finally, from 1 July 2014, when an irregular alien presents himself at the border, although he has not been the subject of a prior expulsion decision, his exit from the territory is taken into account as a “spontaneous departure”1 (E).

The context of the pandemic Covid-19 crisis has severely constrained the removals and departures of illegal aliens over the majority of 2020.