“Those who commit crimes and are not remanded in custody — even if placed under restrictive conditions — must leave Greece. No one came here to commit crimes. There are detention facilities for those subject to deportation under the responsibility of the Greek Police. These centers will be filled with those who have come here and are committing crimes,” announced Michalis Chrysochoidis, Minister of Citizen Protection, in an interview yesterday.
Indeed, according to well-informed sources at parapolitika.gr, an upcoming bill from the Ministry of Citizen Protection will incorporate a legislative provision — jointly introduced by the government and the Ministry of Migration and Asylum — that would effectively terminate the right to remain in Greece for migrants who have committed a criminal offense that does not carry a remand in custody, and who are currently free in the country while awaiting trial. It is precisely this “presence document” that has, until now, made their administrative deportation legally impossible.
According to the same well-informed sources at parapolitika.gr, the legislative provision will stipulate that migrants who do not hold valid residency documents and are arrested for committing a criminal offense — one that does not warrant remand in custody — will be immediately placed on the path to administrative deportation from the country.
