Greek Government to Conduct Mass Deportations While it Tightens Asylum Policy for Migrants

By ARTHUR LYONS
Voice of Europe
Oct. 02, 2019

Following Sunday’s deadly fire at Moria migrant facility on Greece’s Lesbos island, the Greek government has announced several new measures designed to manage the surging flow of migrants coming into the country.

Stelios Petsas, a spokesperson for the Greek government, has announced that the Greek Ministerial Council has decided to clamp down on its asylum application system and increase deportations.

The government said Greece aims to deport 10,000 migrants by the end of next year, Reuters reports.

The country will also increase sea patrols, speed up asylum procedures and create close pre-departure centers for migrants who’ve entered the country illegally who are aren’t eligible for asylum or whose applications have been rejected, Petsas announced in a statement.

In recent months, Greece has been inundated with unrelenting streams of migrants landing on their shores from the Turkish coast. Europe’s largest refugee camp Moria, located on Lesbos island, has become an absolute disaster. 12,600 migrants now live at the camp that was originally designed to host about 3,000.

Yesterday, at least two people were killed after several migrants set housing units – in the center where the migrants live – on fire, and then prevented firefighters from putting it out.

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