Belgian Return Centre Staff Strike Indefinitely
Staff at Belgium’s closed return centres in Merksplas and Steenokkerzeel began an indefinite strike this week, protesting mounting violence, chronic understaffing and burnout at the facilities that hold people awaiting deportation. The walkout, backed by the unions ACV Openbare Diensten, ACOD and VSOA, was confirmed by VRT NWS, and pickets have also been reported at the De Refuge centre in Brugge.
“Our people are fed up,” Kelly De Wilde, federal secretary of ACV Openbare Diensten, told VRT NWS De Ochtend on Radio 1. “Every day there are cases of verbal and physical aggression in the closed return centres. It may sound exaggerated, but people wonder every day whether they will get home in one piece.”
What the closed centres are
The closed centres (gesloten terugkeercentra) are administrative detention facilities where people without a valid residence permit are held pending deportation to their country of origin. As HLN notes, Belgium has six such centres: two in Steenokkerzeel and one each in Brugge, Holsbeek, Merksplas and Vottem. All are managed by the Dienst Vreemdelingenzaken (Immigration Office).
A worsening security picture
The strike follows years of what staff describe as a deteriorating situation. According to HLN’s regional reporting from Merksplas, the Merksplas centre registered around 88 violent incidents five years ago, rising to 400 in 2025, and a further 217 in the first eight months of 2026 alone.
The centre currently holds roughly 130 detainees across several blocks, mostly in large living groups, against a staff of just under 130. Union delegates and staff members identified as Kris, Jonas and Dominiek told HLN the profile of detainees has grown significantly heavier. “Billiard balls flying through the room, fire extinguishers being sprayed empty, threats… it all happens, almost every day,” they said. “Or residents smearing themselves with excrement.”
They also pointed to what they called a losing battle in the removal system. “Some residents who leave to be put on their flight, we know in advance that they’ll be back in the evening because they refuse their flight,” they said.
Union demands and the minister’s response
The unions are pressing for four main measures: a short-term solution to understaffing; a cap on the number of detainees with a so-called “difficult profile” — people with serious psychological problems or drug addiction; more specially trained security staff; and an adjustment to the royal decree so that staff can act more adequately against detainees.
On Tuesday 13 October, the unions met Minister of Asylum and Migration Anneleen Van Bossuyt (N-VA). The talks yielded medium- and long-term proposals, including staff capacity and infrastructure investment, but no short-term measures. “No short-term prospects were given, so the workload on staff remains high,” Gino Hollebeke of ACOD said after the meeting, as HLN reported.
“The minister offers solutions, but nothing in the short term,” De Wilde said. “The action will certainly continue on Wednesday.”
Van Bossuyt expressed regret at the strike and defended her record. “Certain dangerous profiles are staying longer in the closed centre because of these strikes. Several return flights have meanwhile been cancelled,” she said. “That could actually further increase tensions and frustrations in the centres, whereas a faster return actually contributes to the safety of both staff and our society.”
She added that she had done “everything possible to spare the closed centres in times of budget cuts,” easing pressure through adjustments and investments. “I remain open to talks, but the safety of our society must not suffer from union actions,” she said.
The Brugge flashpoint
The dispute escalated further on the night of 13 October, when a fire was set at the Brugge centre. As Focus & WTV reported, the blaze was quickly brought under control but police had to attend to restore calm. Security staff at De Refuge had already begun striking from Sunday evening, 11 October.
A picket remained in place at the Sint-Andries site, a fact also confirmed by Lokaal Nieuws.
Analysis: a policy problem wearing a workplace-safety mask
The two sides are describing the same building through fundamentally different frames. For the unions, the closed centres have become holding sites for people with serious psychiatric and addiction problems who cannot be safely managed in a group setting by security staff who are not trained for it. For the minister, a faster deportation pipeline is itself a safety measure — and a strike that slows removals keeps “dangerous profiles” in the country longer.
Both arguments point to the same underlying constraints. The detainee population has shifted — as staff put it, “the era when only illegal tomato pickers were here is long over” — while the facilities, staffing model and legal framework were designed for a different era. Broken cameras, malfunctioning gates and sticking cell doors, cited in the HLN reporting, underline that this is an infrastructure as well as a personnel question.
The strike also lands amid a broader wave of industrial action across Belgian public services in autumn 2026, from prisons to public transport and postal services, adding political weight to the unions’ position. And it sits squarely in Belgium’s charged asylum and migration debate, where the N-VA minister’s framing of public safety competes directly with the unions’ framing of state neglect.
What to watch
A second round of talks between the unions and the Dienst Vreemdelingenzaken was scheduled for Wednesday 14 October. ACOD said it hoped for “constructive consultation.” As of 13 October, no further meeting with the minister herself was planned, according to ACV.
How long the strike lasts remains unclear. “Hope keeps us going, so we wait and see,” De Wilde said ahead of the talks. What is already clear is that the standoff has exposed a set of problems — overstretched staff, vulnerable detainees, a slow removal system and ageing infrastructure — that neither a single meeting nor a short strike is likely to resolve.