10/01/2017 (Agence Europe) – The new European Border and Coast Guard Agency launched a pool of experts on Tuesday 10 January to support the return of irregular migrants. The return pool will ultimately consist of 690 return monitors, escorts and specialists, according to Agency and European Commission press releases. The Agency will now be able to deploy these experts to support member states, organise and coordinate return operations and cooperate with third countries on returns and readmission, whenever considered necessary. The experts will be drawn from member states and Schengen associated countries. Their role will be to help with identification of irregular migrants and acquisition of travel documents, including cooperation with consular authorities of countries of origin of returnees. They will also support national escort officers during return operations. In 2016, Frontex coordinated the return of 10,700 migrants in 232 return operations. (SP)