Blog 11: Plans to send migrants in Greece packing

With Greece in an economic crisis and elections coming up soon, a platform that has been under heavy fire by all parties vying for power has been immigration. Greece has been for a long time a central hub for immigrants coming from Turkey and the Middle East, but lately, a rise in crime in Greece has caused legislatures to consider sorting out those who seek out asylum from the rest of the migrants and send those who are not seeking asylum back to their home countries. This plan of action was announced by the conservative socialist party last month. It is estimated that 150,000 people enter Greece every year and the current estimated population of undocumented immigrants is somewhere around one million or nine percent of the population. This is a vast number of people to sort through and will take years to realize, maybe never. There is talk of building 30 “closed hospitality” centers around the country to ease the congestion in streets and police cells in order to make screening easier.

Implementing action to this plan will prove difficult though. Due to the vast number of people and outrage expressed by the public, resistance will be met by the forces seeking to round up and arrest all those who are to be deported. The fact that this is an actual platform on which politicians are basing their campaigns in Greece is somewhat disconcerting, though not shocking, considering that many US politicians have taken up the same platform again and again. Something like this would cost the state too much in their current economic condition for something that is not really an issue. It is only a ploy for campaigners.

http://www.thesundaily.my/news/339237