Within a wide range of various methods of influence aimed at combating illegal migration, a special task is allocated to the administrative coercion measures. They have proved to be a universal response to this problem which has become pretty widespread. The statutory procedure for the application and enforced reinstatement by the State border control bodies of the state which has been breached by illegal migration is insufficiently explored, given its ambiguous legal nature. The article aims at determining the purpose and the current state of the procedural rules within the general system of provisions aimed at combating illegal migration, and also the practice of their implementation in the context of the State border control. In the article the author uses the data of the Administration of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine for the period 2013–2017 about the number of decisions on forced return issued by the State border control bodies and decisions of administrative courts based on the claims filed by these bodies for forced expulsion of foreigners and stateless persons, as well as on the number of persons who left the country in compliance with these decisions. The article analyzes the national court practice with regard to this category of cases with a focus on dismissed claims of the State border control bodies, and separate positions of the European Court of Human Rights regarding the application of coercive measures to migrants. It is established that while exercising their official operational activities, the state bodies authorized to guard the State border of Ukraine make a decision on forced return of foreigners and stateless persons who are detained within the controlled border areas during an attempt or after illegal crossing of the State border; this decision is also made for the purpose of filing a claim to an administrative court for forced expulsion of such persons from Ukraine. Accordingly, the number of such decisions is on average twice the number of court decisions on forced expulsion. The author makes a conclusion that officials of the State border control bodies should be granted the powers to decide whether to apply forced return or to file a claim to an administrative court for forced expulsion of an illegal migrant. Accordingly, administrative courts should be directed to make decisions in this category of cases based on the assessment of whether a migrant stays in the country lawfully. When the State border control bodies apply forced return or initiate expulsion of foreigners or stateless persons in such cases, these are powers of discretionary type under administrative jurisdiction with separate elements of control and supervision. While implementing the decisions on forced expulsion, the staff of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine, along with the general tasks of escorting an illegal migrant which are typical for other authorized bodies, also solve specific tasks, the purpose of which is to ensure that an alien or a stateless person crosses the border.