In the last 12 months there has been a massive decrease in illegal migration flows into Greece, with Minister of Immigration and Asylum, Notis Mitarakis saying it is as much as 96%.
“The government has now regained control of the immigration crisis. We set two goals, the reduction of flows and the drastic reduction of the effects of the crisis on the local communities of the whole country,” stressed Mitarakis.
According to the data presented by Mitarakis, “flows in the islands in the last twelve months have decreased by 96%. Of the 121 structures we had, 36 are operating today.
“Our islands have been decongested, without putting pressure on mainland Greece, without increasing the presence of refugees and immigrants in large urban centers.
“Our goal on the islands is to maintain the low flows, to close the old structures and to create a structure at each point of entry, which will offer decent living conditions and a sense of security that our staff and the local communities demand.”
Regarding the island of Chios, the Minister of Immigration and Asylum stated that the goal is to close the Reception and Identification Centre and to return it to the municipality as soon as the closed controlled reception structure opens at the point of entry.
Mitarakis underlined that “we have fulfilled all our obligations. We were asked to police the border. We were asked to reduce the flows. And they were. They asked us to decongest.
He explained that on the day of the 2019 elections in Chios, there were 1,978 people in the migrant centre, but today it has reduced to 378.
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