Hundreds of Migrants Arrive to Greek Islands Since Friday
Hundreds of people have arrived on the Greek Aegean islands and Crete, raising concerns that the flow of refugee boats to Greece may grow.
One hundred and three migrants were rescued east of Crete when a merchant vessel located their 80ft (25m) wooden boat after responding to an alert from the European Border and Coast Guard Agency on Sept. 5. They were later taken to the port city of Heraklion, according to the Greek Reporter.
Another 107 people were rescued by Greek authorities off the eastern Aegean island of Lesbos in two separate incidents on Monday.
In the four days following Sept. 1, a total of 642 people arrived in the Aegean islands of Lesbos, Chios and Samos.
The number of migrants taking boats to Greece has been creeping up again, to around 2,000 a month, since the March 2016 E.U.-Turkey deal saw a sharp drop in arrivals.
E.U. Court Rejects Hungary and Slovakia’s Case Over Refugee Quotas
The European Court of Justice ruled that the E.U. can compel member states to accept refugees for resettlement, rejecting Slovakia and Hungary’s complaints about the bloc’s controversial quota system.
The court said in a statement that it “dismisses the actions brought by Slovakia and Hungary against the provisional mechanism for the mandatory relocation of asylum seekers.”
It added the mechanism is “proportionate” and will help “Greece and Italy to deal with the impact of the 2015 migration crisis.”
Under the quota system, 160,000 refugees in Greece and Italy were originally set to be distributed around Europe from 2015 on. Only 25,000 people have been relocated, and the scheme expires this month.
Some Central and Eastern European countries opposed the quota system. Hungary and Poland have refused to participate, and Slovakia has taken in only a few people from Greece.
Trump To End DACA Program For ‘Dreamers’
U.S. president Donald Trump has rescinded a program started under the Obama administration that offers protection and legal status to young undocumented immigrants.
The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, created in 2012, protects people brought into the country as children from deportation.
Some 800,000 so-called “Dreamers,” mostly Latino and in their 20s, have received legal status through the program, which also allows them to work and get a driver’s license.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the government would no longer accept new DACA applications as the program “winds down.” It will also stop renewing permits for current DACA recipients by March 5, giving Congress six months to pass immigration legislation to address the future of their legal status.
Business leaders, religious figures, governors, members of Congress, activists and Obama expressed their opposition to ending DACA, with the former president calling Trump’s decision “cruel” and politically motivated.
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