Ten years after the European immigration crisis, the consequences reverberate in Greece and beyond

Greece Lesbos (AP) – Fleeing Iran with her husband and toddler Iran, Amena Namjoyan arrives at this rocky beach in the eastern part of this Greek island with thousands of others. For months, their arrival was overwhelmed. The boat fell, fishermen pigeons saved people from drowning, and local grandmothers bottled up new babies.

Namjoyan spent several months in a crowded camp. She learned Greek. When her marriage collapsed, she struggled with illness and depression. She tried to start over in Germany but eventually returned to Lesbos, who had embraced her island for the first time. Today, she works in a restaurant, preparing Iranian dishes, even if they have a hard time declaring their names. Her second child told her: “'I am Greek.'”

“Greece is close to my culture and I feel good here,” Nan Qiaoyang said. “I’m proud of myself.”

In 2015, more than one million migrants and refugees arrived in Europe – most of the sea, landing in Lesbos, the north shore is only 10 kilometers (6 miles) from Türkiye. The influx of men, women and children who fled from war and poverty has triggered a humanitarian crisis that has set the European Union apart. Ten years later, the dust still echoes on the island and beyond.

For many, Greece is a place to transit. They continued to Nordic and Western Europe. Many asylum applicants are granted international protection; thousands become European citizens. Countless people have been rejected and have lived in immigration camps or on the streets for many years. Some people returned to their homeland. Others were kicked out of the EU.

For Namjoyan, Lesbos is a passionate place – many islanders share a refugee descent, which helps her speak their language. But, like most parts of Europe, Greece's immigration policy has turned to deterrence in the decade since the crisis. There are far fewer people who arrive illegally. Officials and politicians insist on the need for strong borders. Critics say law enforcement has gone too far and violated the EU's fundamental rights and values.

“Immigration is now a priority on the political agenda, which is the first agenda until 2015,” said Camille Le Coz, director of the European Immigration Policy Institute at Camille Le Coz. “We see a shift to political scope.”

Humanitarian crisis turns into political crisis

In 2015, the ships crowded with refugees crashed into the doorstep of Elpiniki Laoumi, who runs a fish tavern opposite Lesbos Beach. She gave them, gave them water, and cooked for the aid organization.

“You'll look at them and see them as your own children,” said Laumi. Today, his tavern wall is decorated with thank you letters.

From 2015 to 2016, the peak of the immigration crisis, only one million people entered Europe through Greece. The immediate humanitarian crisis (feeding, sheltering and caring for many people at one time) grows into a long-term political crisis.

Greece is in a serious economic crisis. The influx intensified anger at established political parties and fueled the rise of a fanatical populist force.

EU countries strive to share responsibilities by asylum seekers. The solidarity of the group broke down when some member states flatly refused to take over immigration. Anti-immigrant voices demanded a closure of borders.

Today, illegal migration in Europe

According to IOM data, although the volatility of illegal migration to Greece, the figures are far from the 2015-16 figures, according to IOM data. Smugglers adapted to increased surveillance and moved to more dangerous routes.

Overall, data from the EU Border and Coast Guard Frontex shows irregular EU crossings fell by nearly 40% last year and continued to decline.

This has not stopped politicians from paying attention to (and sometimes fearful) immigration. This month, the Dutch government went bankrupt after populist far-right MPs withdrew their immigration policies from party ministers.

In Greece, the new far-right immigration minister threatens to refuse asylum seekers by jail time.

A few miles from Namjoyan, now living in the forest of pine and olive trees, is a new EU-funded immigration centre. It is one of the largest in Greece, with a capacity of up to 5,000 people.

Greek officials denied the Associated Press's request for access. Currently, the court's challenge is blocked.

Some locals say that remote locations seem to be intentional – leaving immigrants invisible and in mind.

“We don't think there is a need for such a large-scale facility here. The location is the worst – deep in the forest.” Panagiotis Christofas, mayor of the city of Mitilini, the capital of Lesbos. “We oppose this, and I believe that is a common sentiment in our community.”

Pay attention to border security

For most parts of Europe, immigration efforts are focused on border security and surveillance.

This year's European Commission provides the creation of a “return” center for rejected asylum seekers. Italy has sent unnecessary immigration to its center in Albania, even with legal challenges.

Since the Cold War, the government has restored building walls and increased surveillance in invisible ways.

In 2015, Frontex was a small administrative office in Warsaw. Now, it is the largest agency in the EU, with 10,000 armed border troops, helicopters, drones and an annual budget of over 1 billion euros.

EU countries are largely divided on other migration issues (e.g., reception, asylum and integration).

Lesbos' legacy

Last year, EU countries ratified an immigration and asylum convention that set common rules for screening, asylum, detention and deportation of people who attempt to be unauthorized for 27 countries of the group.

“In a sense, the 2015 Lesbos crisis was a birth certificate for European immigration and asylum policies,” Margaritis Schinas, former vice president and chief agreement architect, told the Associated Press.

He said he was proud of the landmark compromise after years of futile negotiations.

“We don’t have a system,” Sinas said. “The door to Europe collapsed.”

The deal, approved by the United Nations Refugee Agency, will take effect next year. Critics say this makes concessions to the Hard Forest Store. Human rights groups say it will increase detention and erode the rights to seek asylum.

Some organizations have also criticized the “externalization” of EU border management – ​​reaching agreements with countries in Mediterranean countries to actively patrol the coast and block immigration in exchange for economic aid.

These deals have expanded from Türkiye to the Middle East and across Frika. Human rights groups say authoritarian governments are making billions of dollars in box office and often put displaced people in shocking conditions.

Lesbos still sees some immigrants arrive

Lesbos' 80,000 residents looked back on the crisis in 2015 and felt good.

Fisherman Stratos Valamios saved some children. Others drown his within reach, their bodies still warm as they brought them to the shore.

“What has changed from then until now, ten years? Nothing has happened,” he said. “I think it's angry – babies might be overwhelmed with something like this.”

Those who died in Lesbos were buried in two cemeteries, whose graves were marked as “unknown.”

On the northern coast, small shoes with a faint Turkish label and empty juice boxes can still be found. The same is true for the black nut-shaped inner tube, which is smuggled as a retention of the children's rough life. In Moria, a refugee camp was destroyed by a fire in 2020, and children's paintings remain on the walls of the ditch.

Immigrants still arrive on these shores, sometimes dead. Lesbos is starting to adapt to a quieter, more measured flow of new immigrants.

EFI Latsoudi, who runs the network, wants immigrants to learn Greek and find a job, and he hopes that Lesbos’ tradition of helping outsiders in need will surpass national policies.

“The way things are going, it's not friendly to integrate new immigrants into Greek society,” Rasody said. “We need to do something. … I believe there is hope.”

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Brito reported from Barcelona, ​​Spain. AP reporter Petros Giannakouris contributed to Lesbos and Theodora Tongas in Athens.