Greece continues to systematically detain refugees and migrants facing deportation proceedings even to countries where returns are neither feasible nor in line with the country’s international obligations. The practice is confirmed by official statistics on return and deportation procedures and on immigration detention for 2023, obtained through parliamentary questions1 and analysed in this note. Registered arrivals in Greece Greek authorities’ official data for 2023 refer to 7,079 arrivals from the Evros land border, 39,016 Eastern Mediterranean arrivals on the Aegean islands and 2,370 Central Mediterranean arrivals at points such as Crete and the Peloponnese.2 Greek law provides that people arriving or present in the country without documentation must be immediately referred to the Reception and Identification Service (RIS) of the Ministry of Migration and Asylum for screening, prior to an asylum or return procedure.3 The Hellenic Police has expressly conceded that “all – almost – foreigners entering our country make an asylum application during the reception and identification procedure”.4 Last year, the RIS registered a total of 55,875 persons in reception and identification procedures (“screening”). Of those, 5,310 were registered in Evros, 36,480 in the Closed Controlled Access Centres (CCAC) on the islands and 14,085 on the mainland: Reception & identification procedures by location: 2023 13212 9121 7662 6837 5345 5310 4916 2394 1078 Lesvos Chios Samos Leros Kos Fylakio Malakasa Diavata Sintiki Source: Ministry of Migration and Asylum, Reception and identification statistics, 2023 1 2 3 4 Hellenic Parliament, Στοιχεία διοικητικής κράτησης και απελάσεις μεταναστών και αιτούντων άσυλο, available here. Ministry of Migration and Asylum, Statistics, December 2023, 1, available here; March 2024, 20, available here. Article 38(1) Greek Asylum Code. Directorate of Hellenic Police, Reply to parliamentary question, 7017/4/25899-γ΄, 16 March 2022, available here. RSA POLICY NOTE │ IMMIGRATION DETENTION | MAY 2024 2