At a one-day conference, titled "Double Challenge: Economic Crisis and Migration", Interior Minister Evripides Stylianidis revealed that an estimated 1.3-1.5 million non-EU foreign nationals -- both legal and illegal -- are currently living in Greece. Shockingly he added that from 2005 till the present day at least 550,000 arrests of illegal migrants have been made, many of whom were repeat offenders.
The conference was organised by the Constantine Karamanlis Foundation and the Center for European Studies.
Citing police statistics, Stylianidis added that the largest involvement in violent crimes was recorded by foreign nationals this includes homicides, rapes and armed robberies. They also account for the largest share of violations in terms of intellectual property theft (bootleg CDs and DVDs).
Everyday at least 150-200 applications for political asylum are submitted and currently 30,000 cases are pending.
As for detention centers, he said that facilities are needed to accommodate at least 5-6,000 persons in the Evros region and for at least 30,000 persons both in the Athens and Thessaloniki. For this, he added, mainly defunct disused military camps would be used.