Already drowning in debt and struggling through a crushing economic crisis worsened by austerity measures demanded by international lenders, Greece is being overwhelmed with an inundation of illegal immigrants despite an ongoing crackdown to round up those who don’t have papers to stay in the country, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The paper noted that Greece is a favorite destination for immigrants because it is a gateway to the European Union and on the bloc’s southern border, with access from land and sea. The country quietly has become a steppingstone for a wave of Middle East and South Asia workers fleeing job markets ravaged by years of government turmoil.
In 2011, an extraordinary year because of the uprisings in North Africa, some 140,980 people were detected entering the EU illegally, up 35% from the year before, according to Frontex, the EU’s border-control agency. Of those, 40% came through Greece. Through July this year, 23,000 people were apprehended crossing the border illegally, roughly 30% ahead of last’s year pace.
Border control in Greece isn’t a new problem. But the country’s economic malaise and budget restrictions are hampering many of its efforts to reduce the flow of illegal immigration. Hoping to come to the rescue, the Europe Commission—the EU’s executive branch—began pouring €255 million ($331 million) into border protection for Greece over the past two years. But that is still less than it gives some countries with far smaller border problems.
And whatever it gives, years of bloated bureaucracy and now new public hiring restrictions in Greece have stalled some of the best-laid plans.
According to one confidential EU report, the country has hired only 11 staffers to help process asylum cases, despite funding last year for 700 positions. Only about one in 10,000 asylum applicants had been approved.
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