5 Introduction For several years, the North-East of the Mediterranean has been considered the main point of entry for migrants seeking to reach the European Union (EU). Strengthened aerial and maritime surveillance techniques and the deployment of Frontex – the EU border agency – in the area between West Africa and Spain (Iberian Peninsula and Canary Islands), have resulted in the shift of migratory routes eastwards, in turn leading to the increased presence of Frontex in the region. The European Agency for the Management of Operational Cooperation at the External Borders of the Member States of the European Union (Frontex or “the agency”), established in 2004, is one of the main tools of the strategy employed at the EU’s external borders to implement the core objective of EU migration policy: “preventing and reducing irregular immigration.” Since 2010, the agency has considered the Greece-Turkey border as the ‘centre of gravity’ of its operations.1 This border serves as a ‘laboratory’ for its activities: the agency’s sea and land Poseidon operations have been periodically renewed since their launch in 2011, the first regional Frontex office was established in Piraeus (Greece) in 2010, and the first Rapid Border Intervention Teams (RABITs) were deployed in October of the same year.2 Over the years, the routes of passage over the border have changed in response to the operations of the agency and the Greek authorities. In the past, migrants generally entered Greece via the land border in the region of Evros, located in the North of the country. Since August 2012,Turkish associations have observed a sharp increase in departures of boats from the region of Izmir (Turkey) heading towards the Greek Islands, as a direct consequence of the increased control at the land border. While Frontex welcomed a decrease in the number of migrants intercepted at the land border between Greece and Turkey in 2012 (2,000 persons intercepted per week in August in comparison to under 10 from October 1 2 Frontex (2012) General Report 2011, p. 60. RApid Border Intervention Teams.