Oversight and control of deportations of non-citizens represent a key challenge in liberal democracies. This paper deals with the strengths and limits of parliamentary control of the deportation regime, performed by political parties in the Austrian Nationalrat. Based on a content analysis of written parliamentary questions in two legislative periods, the findings indicate that the political interest to question the failure of the implementation of deportation policies clearly outweigh questions pertaining to human rights standards, legal conformity, legitimacy and post-deportation consequences. Political parties use the tool to set their own agenda rather than to question problematic executive decisions. This result reflects the established party competition over the migration agenda between the anti-migration parties on the right and the Greens on the left. Eventually, the paper indicates major limitations of the parliamentary control on the deportation issue, in particular on general transparency, Frontex-activities, Dublin-removals and post-deportation consequences.
