The New Pact on Migration and Asylum proposes to make border procedures a central and mandatory feature of the common asylum and return policy. In the Commission’s view, border procedures are essential both to reduce irregular secondary migration within the EU and to increase the very poor return rate of migrants refused entry at the external border. The Pact forms a clear break with the existing asylum acquis, wherein border procedures are exceptional and facultative. This article appraises the Commission’s proposals on the basis of current border procedures in EU Member States. It is shown that the Commission’s proposals only fleetingly engage with legal and practical deficiencies that systematically surface in border procedures in the spheres of detention, reception conditions, and access to legal remedies. The article also submits that the positive potential of border procedures can only be unlocked if cooperation between Member States (solidarity) and with third countries (return) is significantly improved. The benefits of border procedures are fraught with contingencies, while encroachments on individual rights and administrative burdens are considerable.