On 1 June, 2026, the E.U.’s
two legislative chambers agreed informally on text for a law called Return
Regulation, which is oriented to facilitating the return of illegal aliens to
their respective countries. Both The European Council, the “upper chamber,” and
the European Parliament, the “lower” legislative “chamber” (roughly
corresponding to the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives,
respectively) worked in what in American parlance is called a Congressional reconciliation
or conference committee to agree to text enabling state police to enter the
domiciles of illegal immigrants and state governments to set up detention
centers outside of the European Union. That the federal law relegates implementation
to the states illustrates just how different E.U. federalism differs from U.S.
federalism even though both systems are “modern” rather than confederal in that
governmental sovereignty in both unions is split between the federal and state
levels. Even though the E.U. after thirty years was like the U.S. after its
first thirty years in that most of that sovereignty was at the state level, the
use of state governments to implement a federal law differentiates the European
federal system from the American one. Both advantages and disadvantages go with
leaving implementation largely up to the states.
The full essay is at "The E.U.'s Immigration 'ICE'."
