Nearly nine out of 10 illegal immigrants use Greece as an entry point to the European Union, and arrivals by land -- mostly from Turkey -- have increased by more than a third in a year, putting pressure on the country's northern border regions. In response to a request from Greece, a rapid intervention team from the EU border agency FRONTEX will be deployed to the border with Turkey for a limited period, acting under Greek authority, the commission said. It is the first time the EU's rapid intervention border teams have been deployed since they were created in 2007. “The situation at the Greek land border with Turkey is increasingly worrying,” EU Home Affairs Commissioner Cecilia Malmström said in a statement. “The flows of people crossing the border irregularly have reached alarming proportions, and Greece is manifestly not able to face this situation alone.”
In a statement this month, the UNHCR described the situation of illegal immigrants as “disastrous” and called on Athens to urgently take necessary measures to improve the conditions they live in.
