Migrant sex workers are all too familiar with dangers posed by the EU's harmful Deportation Regulation.
As the European Union moves through the final stages of negotiations for legislation opening the door to the potential for ICE like immigration measures in the EU, ESWA reflects on the dangers of punitive migration policies, to which sex workers have long been subject.
The ‘Return’ Regulation is currently in its ‘trilogue’ phase, the final leg in decision making between the European Parliament, European Commission and the Council of the European Union. It is expected that the EU will soon reach consensus on a legally binding text that will compel Member States to considerably tighten migration regimes, even where already strict. Officially known as the ‘Return Regulation,’ human rights groups have instead renamed the legislation the “Deportation Regulation.” More than 250 Human Rights Organisations, including ESWA, earlier came together in a joint statement condemning the attempts to further derogate from international human rights standards.
Collusion with the far-right and pandering to xenophobia
In March 2026, Members of the European Parliament approved a version of the contested Deportation Regulation written by the European People’s Party (EPP), in association with far-right groups, including France’s National Rally, Germany’s Alternative for Germany, and Hungary’s Fidesz. The Platform for International Cooperation on Undocumented Migrants (PICUM) described this as a “toxic alliance”, arguing that the centre-right ultimately gave in to far-right influence after negotiations between centrist and left-of-centre MEPs collapsed.
Human rights groups and civil society organisations strongly opposed the move, campaigning against the use of deportations as a migration management tool, also leading to further securitisation.
Institutionalising repression, racism, and xenophobia
Although negotiations are still ongoing, the current positions adopted by different institutions of the European Union all set the groundwork for a piece of legislation that can wreak incalculable harm upon families and individuals across the EU.
If approved in line with current intentions, the Regulation would grant states sweeping power to, among other things:
- Restrict freedom of movement of undocumented people, including by promoting the systematic use of detention;
- Impose disproportionate “security” measures, as well as potential stop and search procedures for those deemed a “security risk;”
- Erode personal data protection through sharing agreements lacking safeguards.
The result is a dangerous piece of legislation, likely to embolden anti-rights policies increasingly promoted by far-right, centrist, and even left-of-centre parties at national level in their attempts to come to, and consolidate power. Human rights experts warn that vague wording concerning safe-guards and implementation of enforcement and detection measures will be used to push for increasing institutionalisation of repression, racism, and xenophobia.
There is a particular distress in the EU's treatment of migrants, considering how much of the Global South still grapples with the devastating consequences of extraction by European countries. The proposed Deportation Regulation only deepens this, entrenching a punishment-oriented system that reduces human beings to administrative problems to be deported. All of this while the EU continues restricting its borders despite its own citizens traveling the world with comparative ease - a double standard rarely examined for what it rests upon.
Detect and Deport
With a view to increasing deportations, EU legislators have been pushing for increased measures to 'detect' people with an undocumented status. In practice, detection measures already implemented by member states have included a wide range of invasive steps such as surveillance, racial profiling, and in some countries, obligations for public workers to denounce undocumented people. The Council's reframing of these as 'investigative measures' further entrenches detection within a criminal framework.
The Council's position includes, among other measures, a concrete call for police raids of public spaces and private homes, with very few safeguards.
Meanwhile, the Commission's proposal, supported by both Parliament and the Council, paves way for use of “Return Hubs” i.e. the establishment of what is very likely to become migration detention centres in third-party countries where a migrant may never have even stepped foot. Previous externalisation models, such as offshore detention centers, created conditions rife to lead to human rights violations, as evidenced by the case of Australia’s detention centers in Nauru.
The likelihood of human rights violations is exacerbated by a legislative framework which would continue permitting the detention of children across the EU, prolong maximum detention terms (including possible indefinite detention in ill-defined cases of ‘security threat’), and erode due process (such as systems for appeal).
Migrant sex workers, particularly those who are multiply minoritised, such as trans sex workers, disabled sex workers, and racialised sex workers, may be at heightened risk of violence within detention settings, particularly where their sex working status becomes known among the general population of those detained. Use of off-shore detention facilities would only exacerbate these risks, particularly as experts point to challenges of conducting basic democratic scrutiny if not human rights monitoring in such circumstance.
Surveilled like a sex worker
Opponents of the Deportation Regulation were quick to point toward the tactics of Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE) that unfolded across several U.S. states in early 2026 as a predictor of the Deportation Regulation in the EU. While the Deportation Regulation does introduce ICE-inspired tactics, advocates on behalf of minoritised groups remind us that harsh repressions on migrants (or those assumed to be) are already in action in the EU. Racialised communities, including the Roma community, sex workers, as well as migrants, among others, have long been the target of the EU’s control of bodies and borders.
Sex workers, particularly migrant and racialised sex workers, have experienced the impact of immigration ‘detection’ measures for decades, under the guise of ‘anti-trafficking’ interventions. Where two or more migrant sex workers live and/or work together for safety, legislation criminalising sex work in many EU Member States enables authorities to search premises and arrest occupants based on ‘brothel-keeping’ clauses. This has included unchecked raids on workplaces and residences (a new measure proposed in the Deportation Regulation). Despite branding police efforts as ‘rescue’ operations, raids frequently result in deportation, abuse of power and violence against undocumented sex workers, even when leading to family separation.
For migrant sex workers, routine policing, residency checks, and raids expand beyond the physical border, shaping everyday existence, freedoms, and service-access. The Deportation Regulation will further restrict the every-day lives of thousands who seek refuge from escalation of the armed-conflict, climate change, and economic dispossession in their home-countries that is in part-driven by EU political and monetary interests.
Health organisations warn of the extreme impact on access to health and safe reporting of violence likely to be brought about by the Deportation Regulation. Emphasis on widespread detection measures within the Regulation could lead to imposition of requirements for health providers, teachers and social workers (among others) to share information on those they ‘suspect’ to be undocumented with immigration authorities. Lack of firewalls between the public sector and immigration authorities leads to expanding the climate of fear, further dissuading undocumented migrants from accessing vital services. Migrant sex workers in many EU contexts are already often forced to choose between healthcare or justice access versus ensuring they are not outed and can remain in the country. This fear already deters undocumented migrant sex workers from essential preventive healthcare and ongoing treatments, such as HIV testing, PrEP access, and consistent Anti-Retroviral Therapy, with significant implications for both individual health rights and public-health.
ESWA’s research on policing of sex workers in eleven countries in the EU found non-migrant sex workers 10% more likely than migrant sex workers to interact with police as victims of crime. In ESWA’s 2023 research on discrimination in healthcare settings, concerns for migration status were reported as one of the most common reasons why sex workers did not disclose their profession to health care providers. Similarly, 33% of migrant sex workers from 13 countries in Europe and Central Asia reported hiding their migration status from health-care providers.
ESWA has also conducted research on access to housing for migrant sex workers in the EU, with the majority of participants reporting experiencing physical or verbal abuse, intimidation, and threats from their landlords. Inability to provide proof of income or meet formal rental requirements; as well as the legal entanglement of residency status, employment recognition, and housing rights contribute to migrant sex workers’ exclusion from the housing system. Due to these barriers, migrant sex workers are often pushed into unsafe and undignified living conditions, exacerbated by housing crises affecting multiple European countries. The constant risk of eviction — and, consequently, homelessness — forces migrant sex workers to accept exorbitantly high rents, or pay large sums of money upfront to secure a tenancy.
“Some of us are “illegal” in the country. They’re scared they’re going to be sent back if they’re gonna call, so they prefer to accept that robbery, for example, or rape or something.” Mihaela, UK [Exposed from All Sides]
Punitive measures and erosion of non-refoulement
According to international law, it is prohibited to send people back to countries in which they could face persecution, such as serious harm, torture, or inhuman treatment. This principle, known as non-refoulement, is a key part of the international system for protecting migrants, refugees, asylum seekers, and Stateless individuals. The EU Pact on Migration and Asylum, adopted in 2024 called into question the EU’s commitment to the principle of non-refoulment, enshrined in its Charter on Fundamental Human Rights, alongside other instruments. The Deportation Regulation risks further undermining this principle as it currently does not call for case-by-case assessments of risks for migrants being sent to third-party countries.
Analysis by PICUM describes how criminalisation of sex work can result in migrant sex workers having their residence permits revoked, and being blocked from regularisation, as well as drive deportation, often with temporary bans on returning to the EU. Stigma surrounding sex work can impact decisions on regularistion, based on perceived failure to embody “good character,” or demonstrate an “honest means” of livelihood. This raises questions concerning infringement on the right to non-refoulement, particularly where migrant sex workers are at risk of harm or exclusion from their families and others in their countries of origin, if they are outed as a sex worker. Acute risks, and alongside violation of non-refoulement, are also posed by deportation of LGBTQI+ individuals, particularly trans persons, to settings where anti-lgbtqi+ law or policy is in place.
Sex workers are acutely aware of how it feels to be punished for attempting to survive in a hostile system. The Deportation Regulation proposes to make punishment commonplace; introducing sanctions for those who do not ‘cooperate’ with their own deportation, and cutting people off from state financial assistance, when they depend on it most.
Increased labour precarity and furthering dependence on sex work
When migrant sex workers are excluded from the formal labour market due to immigration status, they are pushed into hidden and often unsafe work. This can expose them to exploitation and puts them at greater risk of violence, harassment, and discrimination from clients, intermediaries, and the police.
Capacity for abuse in the workplace is increased due to dependency on third parties who facilitate migration and shape labour conditions in countries of destination. La Strada International indicates that even migrants reporting instances of trafficking or exploitation can be subject to deportation. As emphasised by human rights actors, restricting regular migration pathways does not stop migration; it merely cedes control of migration routes to smugglers and people engaged in human trafficking. This is in tandem to exponentially increasing risks of severe exploitation and other harm, including fatality, for those forced to cross in dangerous circumstances, simply seeking a better life for themselves and their families.
Arbitrary fees for third party services, exorbitant debts, wage manipulations, violence and unfair workplace practices, are likely to be increasingly commonplace (both within and outside of sex work) pending implementation of the proposed Regulation. This is because undocumented migrants have few options to access declared work, and those who want to exploit them feel more confident doing so, knowing the victims are less likely to report abuse for fear of deportation.
If it becomes more difficult to access routes to regularisation, it will lead to greater numbers of undocumented migrants, whose job opportunities are then substantially narrowed. This is made worse by measures which propose to cut-off financial aid from migrants who remain in countries after having been ordered to return. Migrants are therefore more likely to take up sex work due to greater financial need, while their working, and living, conditions are made more dangerous. Increasing criminalisation of both sex work and migration will also heighten the risk of violence, theft, and extortion from clients, third-parties to which migrant sex workers are already subject.
Rights-based migration systems are possible
Criminalisation, surveillance, and discrimination have long been the default tools of Fortress Europe. Despite this, another system is possible – one that is rights-based, prioritises safety, dignity, inclusion, and the expansion of safe and regular routes and access to residence permits.
In January of 2026, the socialist-led Spanish government announced the regularisation of up to 500,000 migrants and asylum seekers, offering a positive departure from the rise of anti-immigration rhetoric becoming popularised across Europe. Spanish sex-worker lead organisation OTRAS have pointed out that the initiative for regularisation does not extend to migrant sex workers in possession of criminal records. While hope is on the horizon, the exclusion of some migrant sex workers from regularisation under the Spanish scheme underscores the need for joint decriminalisation of sex work, in tandem to migration, demonstrating another path possible for the future of human rights in Europe.
Migrants’ Rights are Sex Workers’ Rights (and vice-versa)
As negotiations progress toward final phases, all eyes are on the European Union to reverse the moving train toward democratic backsliding and mounting institutionalisation of the far right.
Having long been subject to practices proposed in the Deportation Regulation, sex workers affirm that migrant rights are sex workers’ rights, and unequivocally denounce the proposed Regulation.
We call upon European lawmakers to reject the expansion of surveillance, border control, and resist pandering to far-right rhetoric through erosion of fundamental rights.
Where do we go from here?
- Join and support existing mobilisation against the Deportation Regulation
- Sign the WeMove petition: https://action.wemove.eu/sign/2025-12-no-deportation-petition-EN/
- Follow dedicated social media pages to stay aware and join campaign actions like @WeKeep_UsSafe (Instagram)
- Help spread the word
- Organise discussions in your workplace, organisation or community (you can print and share our leaflet on detection measures with all the information)
- Help make this information accessible by translating or adapting it for different audiences (contact us if you’d like support)
- Act locally – in your city
- Contact your local City Council or city representatives and ask them to take a stand against this EU law and fulfil their mandate to guarantee services and protection to all inhabitants
- Mobilise with others in your community, including through public meetings, collective statements, or and protest.
Signatories:
Agência Piaget para o Desenvolvimento, Portugal
AIDS Action Europe (AAE)
Asociacion de Profesionales del Sexo (APROSEX), Spain
Comitato per i Diritti Civili delle Prostitute, Italy
Comite de Apoyo a las Trabajadoras del Sexo (CATS) Spain
Correlation - European Harm Reduction Network (C-EHRN)
Dignity NGO, Armenia
Equinox Initiative for Racial Justice
Espace P, Belgium
European Aids Treatment Group (EATG);
Flirt - Front Transfem, France
Grupo de Ativistas em Tratamentos (GAT), Portugal
Gemeinnützige Stiftung Sexualität und Gesundheit (GSSG), Germany
HPLGBT, Ukraine
Kamelia Collective, Poland
La Strada International
LEFÖ, Austria
Manas Safer Space, Portugal
National Ugly Mugs, UK
Pink Life (Pembe Hayat) LGBTI+ Solidarity Association, Turkey
Platform for International Cooperation on Undocumented Migrants (PICUM)
Prévention Action Santé Travail Pour Les Trans (PASST), France
Prostitution Information Center (PIC), Netherlands
ProtegerSex, Spain
Red Insight, Netherlands
Red Umbrella Éireann
Red Umbrella (Rauða Renghlífin) Iceland
Red Umbrella Sweden
Revoke CIC, UK
Scotland for Decrim
SekswerkExpertise, Dutch platform for the advancement of sex worker rights
Sex Workers Advocacy and Resistance Movement (SWARM), UK
Sex Workers Collective, Switzerland
Sex Workers’ Rights Lietuva/Lithuania
Sindicato OTRAS, Spain
SXA-Info, Austria
TAMPEP Netherlands
The Black Sex Worker Collective
The Digital Intimacy Coalition
The European Network for the Promotion of Rights and Health among Migrant Sex Workers (TAMPEP)
The Sex Workers’ Rights Advocacy Network (SWAN);
UTSOPI, Belgium
Verein maiz - Autonomes Zentrum von und für Migrantinnen, Austr
