Greece arrests hundreds of migrants after imposing asylum freeze
The 190 migrants arrived in three groups south of the island of Crete, the coastguard told AFP. A fourth group of 11 people was found near the island of Agathonisi, opposite the Turkish coast. State TV ERT reported one of them was injured and later died in hospital.
The move marks a further hardening of Greece's stance towards migrants under Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis' centre-right government, which has built a fence at its northern land borders and boosted sea patrols since it came to power in 2019. Greece is experiencing a rise in migrant arrivals from Libya, mainly landing in Crete, the home island of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
Over 2,000 people have landed just in July, sparking anger among local officials and tourism operators who have put pressure on the conservative government to take action to stop the flows. The government has declared a three-month suspension on asylum requests from any persons arriving by sea from North Africa.
Earlier this month, dozens of migrants were seen in shocking footage leaping off a boat and running onto a beach in front of tourists on a Greek holiday island. In one clip, recorded at Diskos beach in the south of Crete, a group of asylum seekers were seen crammed in to a small boat as it bobbed near the shoreline.
The concerning levels of sea arrivals prompted a visit by Greece's foreign minister George Gerapetritis to eastern Libyan commander Khalifa Haftar this month. Last month Athens also said it would deploy two frigates near Libyan territorial waters to help stem the flow.
It urged Libya to cooperate more closely with Greece and the EU to stop migrants sailing from there or turn them back before they exit Libyan territorial waters. The North African country has remained deeply divided since the 2011 NATO-backed revolt that toppled and killed longtime leader Moamer Kadhafi.
Human rights groups accuse Greece of forcefully turning back asylum-seekers on its sea and land borders. This year, the European Union border agency said it was reviewing 12 cases of potential human rights violations by Greece.
The government denies wrongdoing. Greece was on the front line of migration crisis in 2015-16 when hundreds of thousands of migrants from the Middle East, Asia and Africa passed through its islands and mainland.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
Mexican rapper banned from US after alleged lie on visa application
A Mexican rap star has been banned from entering the United States after he lied on a visa application by claiming to be a religious artist. Natanael Cano, 24, a pioneer of the corridos tumbado genre, is said to have submitted a R-1 visa, which allows workers to be employed by religious organizations in the US, according to entertainment journalist Javier Ciriani. 'The authorities realized that Natanael Cano was not a member of any congregation or church, which is why they took away his documentation to travel to the United States,' Ciriani said. The Daily Mail has reached out Cano's public relations team for comment. Cano, whose music features a blend of Mexican regional music and trap music, obtained his first visa through a previous company and his second via his own label, CT Records, Ciriani explained. Ciriani added that while immigration authorities were reviewing Cano's religious visa application, they noticed that he was making a profit. 'On the third renewal, which is when the U.S. authorities reviewed it in more detail, they realized that Natanael Cano wasn't a religious singer and was generating income in the country,' he said. 'Therefore, they revoked his visa for alleged fraud.' Ceriani indicated that Cano is also being investigated for allegedly paying radio stations in Los Angeles to play his music. Cano is the latest Mexican musician to have his US visa revoked by the Trump administration. Superstar balladeer Julión Álvarez had his visa revoked ahead of his sold-out show AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas on May 24. It was not the first time that the 42-year-old singer has been targeted by the US government. In August 2017, Álvarez had his visa revoked after the Department of Treasury sanctioned him and more than 20 others for their alleged ties to a Mexican drug kingpin.
The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
Democratic lawmakers seek answers from homeland security head about masked Ice agents
Democratic members of Congress are pressing the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to reveal information about immigration officers' practice of wearing masks and concealing their identities, according to a letter viewed by the Guardian. The letter marks another step in pushes by US lawmakers to require immigration officials to identify themselves during arrest operations, especially when agents are masked, a practice that has sparked outrage among civil rights groups. Congressman Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the powerful committee on oversight and government reform, along with Representative Summer Lee, wrote to the secretary of the DHS, Kristi Noem, pressing for 'memoranda, directives, guidance, communications' regarding immigration officers' use of masks and unmarked cars for immigration operations. 'For every person within the United States, the Fourth Amendment guarantees protection from unreasonable searches and seizures and the Fifth Amendment guarantees a right to due process under the law,' the pair wrote. 'In direct violation of these principles, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has allowed its agents – primarily from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) – to conceal their identities and use unmarked vehicles while conducting immigration enforcement activities.' In recent months, as the Trump administration has escalated immigration enforcement operations, arrests, detention and deportations, the DHS and Ice have been relentlessly criticized for their agents' use of masks and unmarked cars. The two Democrats mention a number of examples, from the past few months under the Trump administration, in which immigration officials have hidden their identities while conducting immigration arrests and operations. They also mention a recent example, originally reported by the Intercept, in which two immigration judges in New York concealed the identities of government attorneys pushing to deport people. 'This causes a dangerous erosion of public trust, due process, and transparency in law enforcement,' Garcia and Lee wrote. 'These tactics contradict longstanding democratic principles such as the public's right to accountability from those who enforce the law and pave the way for increased crime, making our communities less safe.' As the Guardian previously reported, there have been a rising number of people capitalizing on the anonymity of immigration officials. In a number of cases, criminals have impersonated DHS officers in order to rob or kidnap people or – in one case – sexually assault someone. The use of masks by immigration officials 'makes it nearly impossible for individuals to determine whether they are being detained by legitimate law enforcement agents or unlawfully abducted', the representatives warn. Garcia and Lee list a number of national examples, including one from Florida from April, in which a woman wore a shirt reading 'Ice' and used a handheld radio 'to kidnap her ex-boyfriend's wife, threatening her until she managed to escape'. In another case, the representatives mention a California instance in which teenagers impersonated Ice officers, approached Hispanic victims in a vehicle, showed them fake badges and robbed them. 'These cases starkly illustrate how the use of masks, unmarked vehicles, and minimal identification by actual Ice agents does not just erode trust – it effectively hands bad actors a roadmap to exploit vulnerable communities,' the representatives wrote. The arrest of Rümeysa Öztürk, a Tufts University doctoral student in Massachusetts, marked an inflection point for these types of arrests and operations under the Trump administration. Video footage showed Öztürk arrested by plainclothes, masked immigration officers, causing widespread alarm at the practice. Although the practice of Ice officers wearing masks is not particularly new, the practice has escalated under Trump. Immigration officers do not typically wear official uniforms – like local police officers do – unless they are conducting large or potentially dangerous arrests and operations. Sign up to This Week in Trumpland A deep dive into the policies, controversies and oddities surrounding the Trump administration after newsletter promotion 'When our heroic law enforcement officers conduct operations, they clearly identify themselves as law enforcement while wearing masks to protect themselves from being targeted by highly sophisticated gangs like Tren de Aragua and MS-13, criminal rings, murderers, and rapists,' the DHS assistant secretary, Tricia McLaughlin, said in a statement to the Guardian. She added that 'attacks and demonization of our brave law enforcement' is contributing to a rise in assaults against them. A number of lawmakers at the local and federal level have called for Ice to require enforcement officers to display visible identification during arrests. Senators Cory Booker and Alex Padilla introduced a bill earlier this month that would require immigration officers to 'display clearly legible identification, including their agency name or initials and either their name or badge number' during operations, and co-wrote a letter to Ice expressing concern with the practice. House members also introduced a similar bill, requiring Ice officers to display clear identification. And an increasing number of states, including California, New York, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania, have also introduced local legislation that would require federal officers to display visible identification, with exceptions for safety or undercover purposes. This month, the head of Ice, Todd Lyons, defended the practice of agents wearing masks, saying: 'If that's a tool that the men and women of Ice to keep themselves and their family safe, then I will allow it.' Lyons said that Ice officers in recent months have faced a rising number of attacks and doxing threats. Experts warn that masked officers may not only erode trust in law enforcement agencies, but can also allow officers to escape accountability. Now that Trump's huge spending bill has passed, the administration is preparing to increase the number of officers and the amount of resources for immigration arrests and deportations, to fulfill its goal of deporting 1 million people each year.
Telegraph
an hour ago
- Telegraph
Councils to buy empty homes to house migrants under government plans
Migrants could be housed in empty homes and properties bought by councils under government plans to slash the number of asylum hotels. Ministers are seeking to partner with councils to buy or lease houses and vacant properties around the UK in which to place asylum seekers, amid rising anger at the use of hotels for migrants. They are proposing pilot schemes where the Government could pay councils to buy or renovate property, which they would lease back to the Home Office to house asylum seekers. Another model would see empty homes brought back into use for both local homeless people and asylum seekers. Government data show there are some 700,000 empty homes across England, including some 93,600 in London and 35,000 in Birmingham, Leeds and Liverpool. Officials are also targeting former tower blocks, student accommodation and old teacher training colleges for use as 'medium-sized' sites where dozens of asylum seekers could be housed. The moves come as police are braced for fresh protests against asylum hotels this weekend, following the 16 arrests for violence at the Bell hotel in Epping, Essex, amid anger at an alleged sexual assault of a 14-year-old girl by a 38-year-old migrant from Ethiopia. Some 32,000 asylum seekers are being housed in around 210 hotels, according to the latest Home Office data from March. This compares with just under 30,000 in June last year, days before Labour won the election, but down from the peak of 56,000 at 400 hotels in September 2023 at a cost of £9m a day. On Friday, the Home Office announced that asylum seekers face being made homeless if they refuse orders by officials to move out of hotels into alternative accommodation. Hundreds of migrants refuse to be transferred every week, according to the Home Office, which is frustrating attempts to reduce the number of asylum hotels. Some hotels have been forced to remain in use for as few as three migrants due to refusals to move out. Now, asylum seekers will be threatened with losing their taxpayer-funded accommodation and weekly £49.18 allowance if they reject a transfer request for a second time under a new 'firm-but-fair' policy to reduce the number of asylum hotels. The search for alternative accommodation has become a priority as a record 24,000 migrants have crossed the Channel so far this year, up 50 per cent. On top of 80,000 outstanding initial asylum claims in March, there is a growing backlog of 41,000 failed asylum seekers who have appealed against the decision, with many requiring housing. Sir Keir Starmer set out the Government's approach this week, when he told the liaison committee: 'A central focus of what we are doing is what can be built, arranged or taken by councils and repurposed. I am impatient for this change to be driven through. 'We have to take over other accommodation, and we have to drive down the asylum lists. There is no alternative... There is lots of housing in many local authorities that can be used, and we are identifying where it can be used.' Dame Angela Eagle, the border security and asylum minister, told MPs the aim was to 'evolve' away from a 'commercial' approach using private accommodation contractors to a 'more democratically accountable' system in partnership with local councils. It comes ahead of 'break' clauses next year where the Home Office could end its reliance on three contractors – Clearsprings, Mears and Serco – to find accommodation for asylum seekers. Around 200 councils have 'expressed interest' in running pilot schemes partnering with the Government. 'The pilots are looking at various ways to provide accommodation, for example, putting a grant to local authorities and leasing back the property. There are elements of: could we give grants to remediate void properties?' said Joanna Rowland, the Home Office's director general for customer services. 'Is there a support-only option, so we are not providing accommodation? There are a lot of ideas, but we will need those pilots to give us an evidence base for how we might want to move forward.' Dame Angela said: 'Maybe some of the things that we develop will go to supporting local temporarily homeless people from the area in exchange for having some of the things we develop available for our own asylum seekers as well. 'It is a kind of co-operative approach, I hope, that will be more sustainable than the situation that we find ourselves in now.' The Home Office has already faced local opposition and delays where it has attempted to set up 'medium-sized' sites. Plans to buy a 27-flat block in Fareham, Hampshire, to house 70 migrants was abandoned after a local outcry. A 9,000-strong petition has also been raised to proposals to put 35 asylum seekers in high-street flats above a vacant shop in Waterlooville in Hampshire, while plans to house almost 700 asylum seekers in former student blocks in Huddersfield have still not gone ahead more than a year after they were first mooted. Powers to seize properties Islington council in north London is, however, going ahead with plans to buy back up to 900 former council houses to house both homeless people and refugees. Angela Rayner, Communities Secretary, is also pushing for councils to get powers to seize properties that have stood empty for more than six months. The current rules only allow councils to take control of a building if it has been empty for two years and plagued by anti-social behaviour. Her department said it was 'pure speculation' to suggest the powers would be used to repossess vacant properties for asylum accommodation. The Home Office said it aimed 'to develop a more sustainable, long-term model of accommodation supply, which may be more locally led, should reduce competition for affordable housing, and help deliver new supply'.
