Activists Stage Mock Home Visit at Belgian Minister’s Residence in Protest
Six members of the “No ICE in Belgium” collective arrived at the Namur residence of Vice-Prime Minister and Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Prévot (Les Engagés) in the early hours of Wednesday morning, staging a theatrical mock “home visit” to protest a controversial bill currently before the Belgian Chamber of Representatives, as reported by RTBF.
A Dramatic Dawn Demonstration
Dressed as fake police officers, the activists approached Prévot’s private home in Dave, a district of Namur, and knocked on his door. A fake policewoman announced: “Hello Mr. Prévot, it’s 5 AM, we are conducting a home visit, we have the right to do so between 5 AM and 9 PM… it seems you are hosting migrants at your home,” according to L’Avenir.
The activists’ slogan was: “Since you want to enter our homes, we come to yours.” Four police officers were present at the scene to ensure the demonstration remained peaceful.
Remarkably, Prévot opened his door — barefoot and in a sweatshirt — and engaged in dialogue with the activists for nearly half an hour. The minister defended the bill’s scope, arguing that the measure is limited to specific situations and targets individuals considered a threat to public order or national security, particularly in cases related to serious crime, radicalism, extremism, or terrorism.
The Home Visits Bill
The proposed legislation would allow police, with prior authorization from an investigating judge, to enter a private residence without the consent of its occupants to arrest undocumented foreigners who are subject to an enforceable removal order, do not cooperate with their removal, and represent a risk to public order or national security. Visits would be permitted only between 5 AM and 9 PM, and no home visits could be requested against minors.
Prévot emphasized the safeguards built into the text, noting that an intervention could not be freely decided by police or administration — it would require authorization from an investigating judge and would constitute a last-resort measure when other approaches have failed. He acknowledged his party’s evolution since 2018, when the cdH (now Les Engagés) opposed a similar proposal, but argued the current bill cannot be equated with the earlier text due to the safeguards now in place.
Escalating Opposition
The protest at Prévot’s home represents an escalation in the tactics used by the No ICE in Belgium movement. The collective’s name draws a parallel between Belgian immigration enforcement and the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency. Their website describes the bill as allowing “raids” on the homes of undocumented people or their supportive hosts, calling it an attack on the inviolability of the home and on solidarity.
The action follows earlier protests, including a camp set up in May outside Les Engagés’ Brussels headquarters, where around 100 citizens slept in 30 tents in an action called “Stop aux visites domiciliaires,” as documented by RTBF.
Broad Institutional Opposition
The bill has drawn criticism from multiple quarters. Myria, the Federal Migration Centre, has stated that several guarantees remain insufficient. The Council of State has issued critical opinions, noting that no appeal mechanism exists against the investigating judge’s decision. The Association of Investigating Judges has expressed concerns about lack of oversight after authorization is granted.
In June, an association front including the Ligue des droits humains, CIRE, Bel Refugees, and Amnesty International called on deputies to reject the law. The Children’s Rights Commissioner has warned about the potential trauma to children from police interventions. Additionally, 14 of 19 Brussels communes and 28 Walloon municipalities have positioned themselves against the bill.
Les Engagés, for their part, have published an explanatory page defending their position, arguing that the five cumulative conditions inserted at their request make this fundamentally different from the 2018 proposal and that the EU Return Regulation now requires member states to have such mechanisms.
What’s Next
The bill remains under examination in the Chamber’s Interior Committee, with no final vote date yet announced. The protest at Prévot’s home raises questions about whether Les Engagés will maintain their support for the legislation amid growing opposition from civil society, municipalities, and constitutional experts.
For the No ICE in Belgium collective, despite the safeguards Prévot cites, the very principle of intervention in a private home for migration purposes constitutes an attack on fundamental rights. As the parliamentary debate continues, the question of how far protest tactics will escalate — and whether the government’s coalition can hold on this contentious issue — remains open.