European Union (EU) countries cannot imprison illegal migrants just for crossing borders inside the passport-free Schengen area, the bloc’s top court ruled on Tuesday, in a new blow to efforts to crack down on the migration crisis.
The European Court of Justice in Luxembourg said that European Union rules prevent the jailing of non-EU migrants who have illegally crossed a frontier if they have not already been subject to deportation procedures.
The ruling came in the case of a Ghanaian woman, Selina Affum, who was caught by French police at the Channel Tunnel while on a bus from Belgium to Britain using someone else’s passport.
French police placed her in custody for illegal entry to France, and then asked Belgium to readmit her.
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The EU court, ruling on Affum’s appeal against her detention, said that it was against the EU’s “return directive” or laws on deporting migrants.