"Hot returns" and the cold reason of state: An analysis of the implications of the Strasbourg Court's jurisprudence in the context of EU border policy)

The European Union is proceeding with a process of dismantling the mechanisms which, not without many difficulties, had managed to achieve a certain level of legal protection for people on the move. This progressive lack of protection is taking place both in terms of the rights that people have once they have managed to settle in one of the European Union countries and, even more notoriously, in terms of the rights of people who are in the process of entering, in the same attempt to enter or once inside as applicants for international protection. This text analyses one of the main expressions of this process, that of the so-called "hot returns" and its attempt at legal validation, taking into account the jurisprudence of the Strasbourg Court and its implications in the Spanish context.