According to migrants and sources at the forefront of Greece’s immigration crisis, the Greek police have been grouping together asylum seekers living in the country as they await their asylum and expelling them to Turkey by force. Lawyers, human rights activists, and migrants have filed accounts of this occurrence. In one instance, an 18-year-old migrant residing at a refugee camp in Greece for more than two months was reportedly handcuffed and driven 200 miles back to the Turkish border, forced to board a smuggler’s boat and cross the Evros River.
The migrants stated that they had given Greek authorities proof of official documents indicating that they had applied for asylum, and were expelled anyways. Other migrants claim that Greek police officers beat them and confiscated their money and cellphones before deportation. Since late March, at least 250 asylum seekers have been expelled from the country, according to a nongovernmental organization called Border Violence Monitoring Network.
Read More: Greek Police Are Rounding Up Asylum Seekers and Forcing Them Into Turkey, Migrants Say
