Greece to toughen policy on migrants

Greece to toughen policy on migrants

2009-06-11 19:07:02 -

ATHENS, Greece (AP) - Greece will toughen its policies on illegal immigration to combat a surge in trafficking from Turkey, the country's interior minister said Thursday.
Traffickers will face tougher penalties, and more detention centers will be created allowing authorities to detain illegal immigrants for up to 12 months, up from the current official limit of three months, Minister Prokopis Pavlopoulos said.
Pavlopoulos said a sharp increase in illegal immigration had been worsened because Turkey, with which Greece shares a border, was not adequately enforcing an agreement to take back migrants facing deportation from Greece.
In 2008, Greek authorities arrested more than 146,000 illegal immigrants, a 30 percent increase from the previous year and a 54 percent jump from 2006, according to figures from the Interior Ministry.
The measures announced Thursday follow the surge in support for a rightist party in European Parliament elections last Sunday, as well a violence protest on May 22 by Muslim immigrants in central Athens, protesting the alleged defacement of a Quran by a Greek policeman.
Earlier this week, police clashed with rival groups of demonstrators near the center of the capital, when local residents tried to block mostly Asian immigrants from entering a public playground.