1. INTRODUCTION Greece is an important gateway into the European Union for migrants, asylum seekers, and refugees. This has spurred the EU to devise numerous strategies over the years for blocking flows into and out of Greece—particularly in the wake of the refugee “crisis” in 2015—in addition to placing considerable pressure on the country to ramp up controversial detention practices. While some of these efforts have diverted migration flows to other parts of the Mediterranean, these results are often only temporary. In mid-2019, arrivals to the Greek islands again began to surge, spurring the government to propose a slate of controversial measures, including limiting asylum appeals to help speed up returns to Turkey as part of the EU-Turkey deal (discussed below). Among the more notable aspects of Greece’s control efforts are the “hotspot” reception facilities located on the Aegean islands, which include the participation of EU agencies like Frontex and the European Asylum Support Office (EASO), as well as NGOs and international organisations. Aid workers have described the conditions in these “camps” as calamitous. A mid-2019 account Médecins Sans Frontières aid workers working in these centres reported: “At least 24,000 men, women and children trapped in vastly overcrowded Aegean island camps are being subjected to conditions so harrowing they bear all the hallmarks of humanitarian catastrophe.”2 When the numbers of arrivals in the EU rose dramatically in 2015—spurred by the civil war in Syria as well as instability in other countries—Greece received the largest proportion of asylum seekers in the EU. Of the approximately one million people to arrive in the EU in 2015, more than 850,000 entered via Greece. To stem arrivals, the EU reached an agreement with Ankara to counter immigration pressures. Under the March 2016 EU-Turkey deal, it was agreed that all migrants and asylum seekers who arrived on the Greek islands after 20 March 2016 could be returned to Turkey. For every migrant or asylum seeker sent back to Turkey, the EU would resettle one Syrian from Turkey. Turkey was also promised six billion EUR to assist the refugee community in the country, the granting of visa-free travel for Turkish citizens, and the resumption of Turkey's EU accession process. The EU justified the return of migrants and asylum seekers to Turkey on the basis of the “safe third country” principle. However, it was patently clear from the outset that Turkey would not fulfil the H. Smith, “Aid Workers Warn of Catastrophe in Greek Refugee Camps,” 17 September 2019, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/sep/17/aid-workers-warn-of-catastrophe-in-greek-refugee-camps 2 Immigration Detention in Greece: Stranded in Aegean Limbo © Global Detention Project 2019 7