Borders, Rhetoric, and Rights: Greece's newest frontier of control

Image - Poppy G

Ten years after the so-called Long Summer of Migration in 2015, Greece stands in a moment of further punitive regression, far away from a humanitarian approach to the issue. Rather than learning from the lessons of the past, the Greek government is seen once more to be escalating a strategy that is rooted in deterrence, exclusion and securitization. 

In July 2025, Greece suspended the right to seek asylum for people arriving by sea from North Africa for a period of three months, a move that echoes its decision, five years before, in March 2020 to suspend asylum at the northern land border in Evros, citing a so-called “asymmetrical threat”.

These repeated actions highlight another dangerous shift toward criminalizing displacement and denying people on the move their most basic rights.

Image: Screenshot from video of people arriving on a transfer from Crete at the port of Lavrio near Athens in early July (Associated Press)

Far from being spontaneous or isolated, as they are often described, these actions are a part of a long-standing, deliberate  strategy and policy. Oftentimes, legal exclusion comes after language has reshaped and has influenced the public's perception, making rights appear optional and protections negotiable. In a way, it primes society to accept the erosion of norms before the rhetoric then conditions law. Language cultivates the general environment in which legal violence becomes not a possibility but a reality. 

“We are not a hotel”

More precisely, the newly appointed Migration Minister Thanos Plevris -  starting from the first days of his employment in the role in July - repeatedly deployed alarmist metaphors such as an "invasion" from North Africa, language that cast people on the move as dangerous and an illegitimate’other’.  As a result, dehumanization manufactures public consent for punitive policy changes. He announced, during his multiple media appearances, a sweeping suspension of asylum procedures and the imposition of closed detention centers for new arrivals in the island of Crete. The repeated insistence that "We are not a hotel” dismissed any obligation to provide even minimal humanitarian assistance, framing state protections as misplaced generosity that is exploited by opportunists. This approach reflects the new dogma of Greece’s migration policy: “prison or return,” a doctrine that Minister Plevris acknowledged as aligned with the broader EU strategy toward migration control. The government’s punitive stance fits within this emerging framework where detention and deportation replace protection and integration. By repeatedly framing people on the move as invaders and undeserving burdens, this language lowers public resistance and makes the suspension of asylum rights not only legally possible but socially acceptable, a critical step toward legitimizing exclusion as official policy. 

The company you keep - Plevris retweets right-wing UK tabloid the Daily Mail’s enthusiastic response to his hardline (and illegal) stance on asylum suspension

Image - MailOnline

This rhetorical architecture paved the way for legislative measures that mirrored and enforced the general punitive framing. On July 11, Parliament passed the emergency amendment that was attached as a late addition to an unrelated bill,  suspending the right to seek asylum for anyone arriving by boat from North Africa for three months. The amendment, labeled No. 375/20, was inserted into legislation focused on public contracts in Attica. The amendment mandated the return of these individuals “without registration,” violating EU law, including the principle of non-refoulement and protections against return to torture or inhuman treatment. The government’s justification for this suspension leaned heavily on threat narratives, citing a dramatic rise in arrivals, 350% higher than the previous year, and portraying people as a destabilizing force beyond the capacity of the asylum system. The amendment’s language echoed national security discourses, portraying migration once more as an "asymmetric threat" and legitimizing derogation from fundamental rights on grounds of public order. In practice, this meant that those arriving were not only denied access to asylum but were immediately detained. By late July, nearly 250 people had been transferred to Pre Departure Detention Centres (PROKEKA), including Amygdaleza near Athens, a site long condemned for harsh conditions. During a visit on July 25, the Greek Council for Refugees reported 144 adults and 26 unaccompanied minors held there, all prevented from seeking asylum under the new law. Detainees faced damaged containers, extreme heat, limited access to food, water, and medical attention, and strict communication restrictions, leaving them trapped in both legal and humanitarian uncertainty. 

Following this, the Ministry of Migration and Asylum released a draft bill proposing even stricter measures: mandatory detention for rejected asylum seekers, criminalization of irregular stay, harsher penalties for repeated unauthorized entries, and the elimination of humanitarian permits for long-term residents. These proposals institutionalize the punitive logic first introduced by the emergency amendment. Throughout this period, Plevris’s public communications continue to reinforce the framing of migrants as undeserving and deceptive. He has dismissed concerns over detention conditions as exaggerated and repeatedly emphasized that Greece would not tolerate what he refers to as  “illegal immigration." His rhetoric scapegoated people on the move, invoking themes of abuse and exploitation while obscuring reality. 

“Prison or Return” - Plevris shared this image on his social media platforms in July with the statement, “With the passage of the New Law, the options for anyone who illegally enters our Homeland”

Image: Thanos Plevris, X

Echoes of 2020

The suspension of asylum in July 2025 did not come out of nowhere. It echoes a precedent set in March 2020, when Greece shut down the asylum system in response to an increase in arrivals at the Evros border with Turkey. Back then, the government invoked national security rhetoric to justify denying access to international protection, detaining new arrivals, and pushing them back across the border, all in violation of international and EU law. What stands out in both 2020 and 2025 is the narrative architecture surrounding these policies. In 2020, Prime Minister Mitsotakis declared,

“This is no longer a refugee problem… it is a conscious attempt by Turkey to use migrants as geopolitical pawns.”

Migration was framed as hybrid warfare; people on the move were no longer people but they were framed as weapons. The March 2020 decision to suspend asylum rights was widely condemned but ultimately tolerated by EU institutions. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen even praised Greece as “Europe’s shield.” Today,  we see that Minister Plevris has crafted once again a comprehensive doctrine of deterrence rooted in dehumanization through specific language used during his multiple media appearances and social media posts. His metaphor “The Ministry of Migration is not a hotel” is much more than just a phrase; it actively reduces humanitarian support to a mere indulgence, delegitimizing assistance and preparing  its withdrawal, without any resistance from the public.

The rhetoric of 2025, distorts reality by portraying minimal aid as a luxury, it fuels resentment by suggesting migrants receive more benefits than Greek citizens,  and it reframes exclusion as an act of fairness. Within this framework, removing protections is presented as a form of justice. This logic extends into legal structures. When it comes to unaccompanied minors, Plevris expressed suspicion about “someone declaring themselves 16 with no verification” calling for mandatory age testing and even proposing that minors be treated as adults. Vulnerability itself becomes suspicious, framed not as a condition requiring protection, but as a potential strategy of deceit.

Cruelty as Necessity

Rhetoric does not simply reflect the law, it shapes its foundations. It dictates who in society is deemed deserving of rights and who is not, shifting public sentiment so that cruelty is framed not as failure, but as necessity. Greece’s recent migration policy cannot be understood solely through legal texts or parliamentary votes. It must be seen as a carefully constructed strategy where language acts as a tool of power: shaping perceptions, enabling violations, and foreclosing solidarity. The move from protection to punishment is as much about controlling narratives as it is about controlling borders. 

Through criminalization and militarization of discourse, Greece’s actions also signal a troubling direction for the European project itself. Unless actively challenged, these emergency measures risk becoming permanent, transforming the EU’s southeastern frontier into a laboratory for even further erosion of rights. It is clear that Greece’s current trajectory is not without precedent. From the refugee crisis in 2015 to the Pylos shipwreck, the consequences of deterrence-driven policies have already been measured in lives lost. They were not unavoidable and one time tragedies but they were products of political decisions: pushbacks, border fortification, and the criminalization of movement. In that sense, while exclusion continues to shape \policy across Greece and Europe, suffering is increasingly accepted as a standard and a consequence built into the "system's design". The three month suspension of July 11th, presented once more as a temporary, “urgent” measure can be extended, paving the way for its institutionalization. Already, the draft bill scheduled for discussion with the reopening of the Greek Parliament after summer highlights this direction, transforming what is presented as an emergency measure into a permanent architecture of exclusion and a state law.

Words by Aggelina C