At first glance, it looks like a harmless booklet for kids: illustrations, spaces to write, riddles. But this “Guidebook on Return” aimed at children has sparked outrage on social media in France and raised questions far beyond the country’s borders.

Published by Frontex, the EU border agency, it first appeared in 2024 and has recently resurfaced online, where it has been criticised as completely disconnected from what deported families actually experience.

To try to understand why this guide has become so controversial, we talked to Garance, an expert in EU immigration law. (Because of the sensitivity of the topic, Garance preferred that we use only her first name.)

“At best it is a somewhat idealised portrayal of a procedure that is harsh, and at worst it is misleading,” she said.

Frontex’s intentions are, in principle, understandable, Garance explained. The agency is regularly accused of failing to provide sufficient information and of lacking transparency. But what really doesn’t sit right, according to her, is that the guide is nowhere near representative of what the deportation procedure is actually like.

“The deportation procedure is explained as it would be in an ideal world. But we have plenty of accounts from people for whom it doesn’t go that way. In particular, there is the stay in a detention centre, which is mentioned in the booklet as, ‘Possibly, you may stay in a building with other families’. This is a detention centre where, under the new Return Regulation recently adopted, people can be held for up to two years.”

The timing of the booklet’s reappearance is no coincidence. It came just as the European Parliament, in June, adopted the so‑called Return Regulation, a package of measures that tightens rules for migrants in irregular situations and accelerates deportations.

The text was approved thanks to votes from the right and the far right, in a highly charged atmosphere. Moments after the vote, far‑right MEPs shouted “Take them back”, while lawmakers on the left responded with chants of “Shame on you”.

One of the most contentious provisions is the creation of “return hubs” – detention centres outside EU territory where migrants would be held while awaiting removal to their country of origin. The regulation also extends the maximum detention period to two years, as Garance noted. Critics have denounced the measures as inhumane, drawing comparisons with ICE, the US immigration enforcement agency.

To learn more about this controversy, watch the video at the top of the article.

Justine Hagard