A new study by Dutch authorities on the rate of deportations of failed asylum seekers across Europe has found that only 6.5 per cent of illegal migrants in Belgium are actually sent back home.
The study, which was released this week, is based on figures from the European Union statistics agency Eurostat and covers a period from 2013 to 2017, French-language Belgian magazine Le Vif reports.
Asylum seekers from countries such as Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, Somalia, and Eritrea are the main focus of the study which found other countries across Europe to have much higher rates of deportation but none that approached even half of the failed asylum seekers.
Norway stands out as one of the highest with 25 per cent of illegals being returned to their home country, followed by the United Kingdom at 19.4 per cent and the Netherlands at 18.2 per cent.
The reasons for migrants returning home are numerous but also have to do with local policies such as limiting the ability of failed asylum seekers to find work in the countries as well as limited access to housing.
Countries such as the Netherlands also enjoy better diplomatic relations with the migrants ‘countries of origin allowing them to work with the home countries to facilitate deportations.
Germany, which bore the brunt of the migrants in the 2015 migrant crisis, has had immense problems with the deportation of failed asylum seekers to the point where the German Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) reported last year that the vast majority of failed asylum seekers from Africa would likely be able to remain in the country.
BAMF reported that in the first half of 2018, 27,250 African migrants had been denied residency or asylum but of those only a mere 3,164 were actually deported.
Later that year, German parliament president Wolfgang Schäuble also admitted that it was unlikely failed asylum seekers would ever leave the country saying that they should instead stay and integrate into society.