Once the legality of the detention is confirmed by the competent judge, the Police Directorate officially issues the above “asylum detention” decision. Since vulnerability can be assessed at any time during the procedure, a “low profile” detainee could be found to be vulnerable at a later stage, either after a reassessment of his vulnerability by EODY (pursuant to a referral by the Lesvos PRDC), or after a decision by Lesvos RAO based on his asylum interview. In these cases, the Head of RAO will usually either abstain from issuing a recommendation of detention, or will revoke such recommendation, if they have already provided one. Lack of legal basis and insufficient reasoning of the detention orders The decision orders issued in the framework of the “low profile detention scheme” lack both legal basis and sufficient reasoning. As explained, at the moment of the issuance of the first, temporary detention order, thirdcountry nationals are already considered asylum seekers, as they have declared their “will to apply for international protection” during the reception and identification procedures. This is expressly provided for in Art. 34(d) of L. 4375/2016, which reads: “‘[a]pplicant for international protection’ or ‘applicant for asylum’ or ‘applicant’ is the alien or stateless person, who declares orally or in writing before any Greek authority, at entry points of the Greek State or inland, that s/he is asking for asylum or subsidiary protection, or asks, in any form, not to be expelled to a country for fear of prosecution due to race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership to a particular social group, in accordance with the Geneva Convention, or because he is at risk of suffering serious harm in accordance with Article 15 of Presidential Decree 141/2013 (A’ 226) and on whose application no final decision has yet been reached.” Hence, their administrative detention is illegal, as Art. 46(2) provides for the administrative detention only of “aliens” or “stateless persons” who submit an application for international protection while in detention. Additionally, as asylum seekers, they are not deportable. Interestingly, their status as asylum seekers is not mentioned in any of the detention orders issued prior to the recommendation of detention by the Head of Lesvos RAO, and the procedure of Art. 46 (“detention of applicants”) is only followed after they register their asylum application with Lesvos RAO. Welcome the stranger. Protect the refugee. | 11 11