Greece's - and Europe's - treatment of undocumented migrants is a threat to the liberty of us all.

 

The Monaghan Report on the scandalous death of Jimmy Mubenga during his expulsion from Britain highlighted the broader issue of the inhuman treatment of immigrants in Europe. We become more and more accustomed to their demonisation and dehumanisation; even worse, the recent "Go Home" vans campaign in Britain warns that immigrant-bashing might soon become something like official policy. A system in crisis needs scapegoats, and the immigrants come in handy here, being much sexier scapegoats than bankers. Could this be a prelude to a wider authoritarian turn? Just watch what is happening in Greece.

The plight of the newcomers has often been described in words and in film. It does not lack official sanction. Before the elections, Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, whose extreme Right past and affiliations are no secret, decried that "our cities have been occupied by illegal immigrants; we will take them back". This would actually be an act of charity towards Greek children: "Kindergartens are now full of immigrant children, and Greeks cannot enter. This will stop!" he added. Nikos Dendias, Minister for Public Order, put things into perspective: "Immigration is a problem perhaps greater than the [economic crisis]". Such declarations are not taken by the police as implying that immigrant rights are sacrosanct. As for the judicial and the administrative system, they protect these rights no better. In all, asylum seekers are systematically detained and face inhuman or degrading treatment. This is not leftist rhetoric, but an official statement of the highest EU Court of Justice, which in 2011 put a ban on the deportation of asylum seekers to Greece for exactly that reason.

But did the rot start in Athens? One might fairly say that EU policy played some part here. My bet is that European Council Directive 2002/90/EC, of 28 November 2002, will be viewed by future historians as equivalent to laws chasing those who helped Blacks in the pre-Civil War United States. It calls for prosecuting any "facilitation" of "unauthorised entry, transit and residence" of undocumented persons, also asking for the punishment of anyone who "intentionally assists" them to "enter, or transit across, the territory of a Member State", or even simply to "reside" there, in some cases. Vague terms like "facilitating" and "assisting" can be interpreted so broadly, that every social interaction with immigrants is criminalised. With the result that racist behaviour becomes a norm, and then racism turns into common sense.

This European Directive was transcribed into Greek law in 2005, making it illegal to help undocumented immigrants in any way. But how can you tell documented from undocumented immigrants? Pretty impossible, isn’t it? Not to mention that many of the so called undocumented or "illegal" immigrants have been living legally in the country for decades, but lost their right of residence because their employer went bust or some law changed. Early this year the highest court annulled a 2010 law that had accorded Greek citizenship to certain categories of immigrant children, thus turning thousands of children into illegal aliens on their eighteenth birthday - children who often know only the Greek language and culture, and have never been abroad. During the last three years, legal immigrants have decreased from 600,000 to 500,000.

Put simply, the current law invites people to avoid immigrants or asylum seekers altogether. If you approach those who look like immigrants, you may "assist" or "facilitate" them. How much is too much? Taxi drivers lost their licences and their vehicles, and were even sent to prison, because they happened to carry undocumented immigrants from the bus station to the city centre. The state effectively asks them to check the documents of their clients, so they stop carrying people who look like less than wealthy foreigners. Taverns have been reported as refusing to serve immigrants, a notion unthinkable until a few years ago. If you have rented your flat to a family of legal immigrants and then one of them becomes illegal, because she lost her job or he turned eighteen, you may face very serious charges. If you look like an immigrant, then, you become untouchable. As far as I know, no doctors have yet been prosecuted for treating untouchables, but the law clearly asks for that. Another extreme Rightist in government, the Health Minister Adonis Georgiades, has already pressed public hospitals to discriminate against immigrants pure and simple.

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