Issue No.
13343
The New Democracy government will be turning up the heat on illegal migrants this summer with large-scale police sweeps
RIDING the wave of anti-immigration sentiment, ruling New Democracy is preparing to launch the country’s toughest ever anti-immigration crackdown.
The government will turn up the heat on undocumented migrants this summer in hopes of making Greece even less welcoming towards immigrants seeking sanctuary than it already is.
It is planning to round up thousands of undocumented migrants and lock them up in disused military barracks and other sites for up to a year or until they can be deported.
While small-scale police sweeps targeting undocumented migrants in Athens are already underway, interior ministry sources tell the Athens News that large-scale operations will begin next month - just as soon as the first four detention centres are ready.
The ministry is currently studying a list compiled by the defence ministry of 11 possible disused military facilities. As many as 80 detention centres could be set up nationwide by the end of this year.
Greece last week also started deporting undocumented migrants via special charters. The first flight left Athens on June 10 for Islamabad carrying 55 Pakistani deportees.
The new measures are a significant departure from the current system, in which undocumented migrants are arrested, detained for up to three months and then handed written orders to leave the country within 30 days.
Pierced by the sharp rise in illegal immigration, the government is also stepping up pressure to try and renegotiate EU agreements with countries which refuse to take back nationals who have been denied refuge in the union. Neighbouring Turkey is at the top of Greece’s list.
Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis raised the issue during the EU summit in Brussels on June 18. In a pre-summit statement, the 27-member bloc pledged “a determined European response based on firmness, solidarity and shared responsibility”.
Backlash
Greece plunged into a furious debate over immigration policies last month after being stunned by scenes of hundred of homeless undocumented migrants squatting in the former appeals courthouse in downtown Athens.
On a political level, the toxic combination of swelling immigration, crime and high unemployment has propelled a growth of far-right Laos, which was the only party to garner more votes during the recent European Parliament elections than in 2004.
As the immigration issue looks destined to dominate the next general elections, opposition parties are accusing New Democracy of a vote-grabbing gambit to build support ahead of the next elections.
“They spent all these years ignoring the issue and only now, in response to the election result and the rise of Laos, they are trying to address the issue,” Marilena Koppa, socialist Pasok Euro-deputy told the Athens News. “But this is no way to address such a complex issue.”
Koppa, who served as Pasok’s immigration policy advisor before taking her post in Brussels, also criticised the government’s plan for more detention facilities and police sweeps for migrants.
“Unfortunately, they are treating these people like garbage,” she said.
It should be noted, however, that it was the Pasok government in 1999 that launched the country’s first-ever large-scale sweep of undocumented migrants.
Meanwhile, Left Coalition Syriza and the Greek Communist Party (KKE) criticised the illegal immigration clampdown and called on government to respect the human rights of asylum seekers and refugees.
Only Laos supported the measures.
“The only solution is the immediate repatriation [of undocumented migrants] to Turkey and to other EU countries,” Laos spokesman Kostis Aivaliotis said.
The new measures, however, have prompted an outcry from anti-racism and humanitarian organisations. Many human rights groups, including the United Nations refugee agency and the members of the Athens Bar, said they are deeply concerned by the new policy.
ATHENS NEWS 30/08/2010, page: 13
