Approximately 28% of third country nationals without legal right to remain in the EU are actually returned to their countries of origin.

Omissions

• The claim does not specify a time period, making precise verification difficult. The return rate fluctuates significantly quarter by quarter.
• The MEP did not cite a specific source for the 28% figure.
• The return rate can be calculated using different denominators: orders to leave, persons found illegally present, or total irregular entries. Eurostat's standard metric uses 'returns following an order to leave' as a proportion of 'orders to leave'.
• Q1 2026 data (34,550 returns out of approximately 108,475 orders to leave, yielding ~31.8%) was published very close to the session date (2026-06-16) and may not have been available to the MEP at the time of the claim.
• Full 2025 annual data including both orders to leave and returns was not fully retrievable within the search constraints; the annual rate for 2025 may differ from the Q4 2024 quarterly figure cited here.

Sources

• PrimaryEurostat – Returns of irregular migrants – quarterly statisticsIn Q1 2026, 34,550 third-country nationals who received an order to leave were effectively returned to a third country. In Q4 2024, 124,935 non-EU citizens were ordered to leave an EU country, and 28,630 persons were returned to third countries following an order to leave.
• PrimaryEurostat – Enforcement of immigration legislation statistics135,460 third-country nationals were returned to a third country following an order to leave the EU in 2025, up 20.9% compared to 2024.