Repeated unrest at the closed detention facility in Sintiki, Serres, has highlighted what critics describe as a major problem with Greece’s migration policy. Between 300 and 500 migrants, mainly Egyptians, are being held there after their asylum applications were rejected.
They are under deportation orders but cannot be returned because of obstacles from the Egyptian side that, in practice, amount to a refusal of readmission. Under a law passed on September 2, 2025, people who enter the country irregularly can remain in detention, first administrative and then criminal, for at least four years.
Arrivals have declined compared with previous years but continue. Nearly 19,500 migrants entered Greece irregularly in the first seven months of this year, including 12,200 through the Crete and Gavdos route. During the same period, 3,862 returns and departures were recorded, roughly one return for every five new arrivals.
At the same time, provisions of the new Migration Pact, in force since early summer, sharply limit transfers of asylum seekers from the country of entry to other European Union member-states, meaning recent arrivals are expected to remain in Greece either as refugees or as undocumented migrants.
