The draft law allowing home searches for enforcement of return decisions was adopted by the Council of Ministers in July 2025. Prior to adoption, Myria issued an opinion on 11 July 2025, highlighting risks to fundamental rights, while the Children’s Rights Delegate emphasised concerns regarding the protection of minors. Municipal motions in several municipalities, including Brussels, Verviers, and La Hulpe, reflect a broader set of local concerns about the draft law. The Data Protection Authority has also examined the draft law, raising questions about data handling and privacy safeguards.

On 20 August 2025, the Council of State’s Legislation Section issued opinion 78.049/2/V, which was particularly critical of the draft law. It stressed that home searches involve a serious interference with the right to privacy and the inviolability of the home, requiring multiple procedural guarantees, especially as the main objective of the draft law is to allow administrative arrest of a foreign national at their residence. The Council identified four key issues: insufficient protection for third parties residing in the home, inadequate safeguards for children during intrusive interventions in family homes, lack of effective judicial oversight of the measure’s execution, and a measure comparable to a criminal law home search without the corresponding procedural guarantees.

In light of the Council of State’s critique, civil society organisations, relayed by Vluchtelingen Werk Vlaanderen, are calling on the federal government to abandon the draft law. 

For further details, please read this press release from Vluchtelingen Werk Vlaanderen.