In late April 2025, Jordan’s Ministry of Labour announced the deportation of more than 3,000 foreign workers for violating labour laws. The move followed a sweeping wave of inspections that targeted non-citizens working without permits in domestic service, garment production, agriculture, and construction. Officially, the campaign sought to “restore order” in the labour market. But beneath this administrative veneer lies a story of social displacement, collapsing livelihoods, and the erosion of fragile refugee protections that had once been Jordan’s hallmark.

The inspection campaign, still ongoing months later, has shaken communities across the country. Business owners and workers alike describe a climate of fear and uncertainty. “We have seen waves of inspections before, but never of this duration and intensity,” said a Bangladeshi owner of a small clothing workshop in Ad-Dhulayl, a town northeast of Amman. “It seems that this time they are serious about wanting all foreign workers out of the country.”

Jordanian authorities have defended the campaign as a necessary measure to protect the national workforce, citing an unemployment rate exceeding 21% and soaring living costs. Yet, in practice, the campaign has pushed thousands of migrants and refugees deeper into poverty. Businesses employing non-citizens-many of them unlicensed-have shuttered, displacing both owners and employees. A fine of 800 Jordanian dinars (£833) per informal worker has made employing foreigners an unaffordable risk.

From Ad-Dhulayl’s main market street, the Bangladeshi workshop owner pointed to empty homes once occupied by Yemeni refugees and Egyptian labourers-families who had been deported. Others simply disappeared after word spread that inspectors were checking IDs door-to-door. The crackdown’s reach extends beyond undocumented workers; it touches refugees, asylum seekers, and even those with expired work permits, effectively criminalising the poor.

Jordan hosts one of the world’s largest refugee populations relative to its size. Over half a million registered refugees-mostly Syrians-reside in the country. Alongside them are thousands of Iraqis, Yemenis, Sudanese, and Somalis. Adding to this complex demographic are 2.5 million Palestinian refugees registered with UNRWA, as well as others unregistered but integrated into Jordanian society to varying degrees.

Officially, Jordan is not a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention, but a memorandum of understanding with the UNHCR outlines minimal protections, including the principle of non-refoulement. Yet these protections are increasingly undermined by shifting government priorities and the absence of clear legal frameworks. Refugees’ right to work depends on nationality, origin, and political circumstance, resulting in arbitrary and discriminatory practices.

For Syrians, the turning point came with the gradual dismantling of the Jordan Compact-a 2016 agreement that sought to integrate Syrian refugees into the workforce in........

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