Shipping out to new lands

Smugglers monitor the coast guards of Greece and Turkey and, immigration lawyers and migrants say, charge $870 for a place on an inflatable dinghy in which the migrants row the short but treacherous distance into the European Union.

At better-known targets for migrants trying to pierce the borders of the European Union — Lampedusa, off Italy, and the Canary Islands — refugees try to land after travelling hundreds of miles in flimsy boats. Here, their peril and fate are compressed into less than a mile of sea. The total of arrivals on this island chain more than doubled in 2007, putting a strain on the islands. By the end of November, 10,961 migrants had landed on Samos, Lesbos and Chios, islands in the northern Aegean Sea, compared with 4,024 for all of 2006, said Vassilios Gatsas, the chief of police for the three islands. By contrast, clandestine arrivals in Lampedusa and the Canaries have declined.

With geography putting Greece on the defensive against this flow, it has reacted forcefully. For many who land here, the door is slamming firmly shut. They are arrested and put in detention for three months. Most are then ordered to leave the country within 30 days. Many of those who elude the authorities and try to arrange to be smuggled farther into Europe are caught and sent back to Greece. “Greece was not ready to accept such vast numbers of immigrants,” Gatsas said.

Most Greeks, with a history of hardship and emigration, are still broadly sympathetic to the migrants. But the interior ministry has to deal with policy and policing problems, and international criticism is mounting.

In April, Greece lost a case brought by the European Commission at the European Court of Justice, which criticised Greece for not providing adequate access to asylum. Under European Union rules, the first country an immigrant reaches is supposed to deal with asylum requests. Other European countries contend that Greece’s failure to address the issue adequately merely shifts the problem to them.

An asylum seeker in his 50s, who said he had made the crossing to Samos “in record time of 40 minutes” in the summer, and who spoke on the condition of anonymity to protect his family in Iran, said he had followed the advice of his Turkish smuggler and cut up his inflatable dinghy when he landed. “If the police catch you and see no boat, they say, ‘Come with me,’” he said, lessening the chances of quick deportation.

The wave of illegal arrivals in 2007 has put enormous strain on this island of 35,000 better known as a tourist resort and the birthplace of the mathematician Pythagoras.

While Greece is investing in security, only one lawyer is available to help refugees here with legal aid and asylum requests. That lawyer, Dimitrios Vouros, said late last year that only 7 of the 4,469 migrants passing through detention had asked for asylum. That was the same number of requests as in 2006, when the number of arrivals was one-third the size.

While United Nations leaflets that explain asylum procedures are available in many languages, Vouros said, some migrants believe they stand a better chance if they wait to apply in Athens. Ireni Tremouli, the detention centre’s social worker, said many did not understand the gravity of their situation, focusing only on being released.