Book Offer
This will close in 10 seconds
Sinn Féin representatives in the European parliament have voted against a bill aimed at enabling large-scale migrant deportations from Europe, with its European group denouncing the legislation as “racist and xenophobic”.
The legislation, which passed despite resistance from several Irish MEPs, will enable European countries to deport illegal migrants to third-party countries for processing, with the likes of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan being floated as possible recipients.
Left-wing politicians inside the parliament had been pushing against the reforms over claims that they were xenophobic, with both of Sinn Féin’s MEPs — Lynn Boylan and Kathleen Funchion — voting to torpedo the legislation.
https://x.com/weimers/status/2067208911325671489
Such efforts were scuttled by the decision of the European People’s Party — of which Fine Gael is a member — to vote with right-wing parliamentarians to pass the rules.
This has been met with fury from left-wing lawmakers, with Sinn Féin’s Left Group in the European Parliament accusing the EPP of working with “fascists”.
“EPP have been ideologically hijacked by the far right, and this Regulation is the result: a European ICE designed to identify, detain, and expel people in the style of Trump,” Estrella Galan, a Spanish member of the Left Group, said.
“The Left will always resist those racist and xenophobic policies and call on civil society to join the resistance,” the Sinn Féin-aligned politician added.
Other Irish politicians to vote against the legislation include Barry Andrews and Maria Walsh, with both members turning against their own colleagues inside Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael respectively.
Both politicians claimed that the legislation would not prove practical or cost effective, and that it would put the human rights of illegal migrants at risk.
“We have to ask ourselves about human rights,” Andrews told RTÉ Radio 1.
“How are we going to now send families and children to countries we don’t know where they are and what human rights standards they meet?”
“There is no circumstance under which I can comfortably vote in favour of this,” he added.
Independent MEP Michael McNamara also voted against the measure.
This will close in 10 seconds