Greece Fast-Tracks Migrant Returns, Plans Deportation Hubs
Greece has approved a plan to speed up migrant deportations and establish dedicated return hubs, the government announced Wednesday, signaling a harder push on immigration enforcement.
The new measures are designed to cut the time between a failed asylum claim and an actual return, a gap that has allowed tens of thousands of migrants to remain in Greece long after their cases were rejected. Return hubs would serve as holding facilities to process and execute deportations faster than the current system allows.
Tens of thousands of migrants remain in Greece long after their asylum cases were rejected.
Greece has been one of the main entry points into Europe for migrants crossing from Turkey, with the Aegean islands and the Evros land border seeing persistent arrivals despite years of EU pressure and bilateral agreements. The move aligns Greece with a broader European shift toward stricter enforcement, as several EU member states have pushed for faster removal procedures in recent months.
No figures were immediately available on how many people the new system would target or when the return hubs would become operational. Greek authorities have consistently argued that the country carries a disproportionate share of Europe's migration burden given its geographic position, and Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has made border control a centerpiece of his government's agenda.
The announcement follows ongoing pressure from within Greece to reduce the backlog of rejected asylum seekers still present on Greek territory, a number that runs into the tens of thousands according to previous government estimates.
