Deportation & immigration detention statistics in Greece: first half 2025
Pressing need for legal aid
Key figures
Returns & deportations
11,402 Hellenic Police decisions: 4,962 return decisions (Return Directive) and 6,440 deportation decisions (derogation from the Directive). Main nationalities are Syria (2,029), Afghanistan (1,613), Egypt (1,239) and Albania (1,200).
2,658 returns of third-country nationals, of which 1,808 concern nationals of Albania and Georgia, not represented in arrivals via Evros and the Mediterranean
Review of return & deportation orders
172 decisions challenged through an administrative appeal to the Hellenic Police (1.5%)
6.4% approval rate in appeals before the Hellenic Police
Immigration detention
10,715 detention orders: 3,092 in return procedures (Return Directive), 6,438 in deportation procedures (derogation from the Directive) and 1,185 in the asylum process (Reception Conditions Directive)
18,441 RIS “freedom restriction” orders, including 5,399 in RIC Malakasa
99.9% detention rate in deportation procedures
62.3% detention rate in return procedures
Judicial review of detention
1,819 orders challenged through objections before administrative courts (17%)
50.2% approval rate in objections before administrative courts
0.6% rate of detention orders quashed in ex officio review by the same courts based on the same provisions
Detention conditions
1,437 people detained in pre-removal centres as of 30 June 2025, of whom 158 Amygdaleza and 128 in Corinth. Main countries include Pakistan (387 detainees) and Egypt (314 detainees)
212 people detained in police stations as of 30 June 2025
The present note analyses official data on return, deportation and immigration detention in Greece in the first half of 2025, supplied by the Greek authorities in reply to parliamentary questions. The figures confirm yet again a continuation of the arbitrary and systematic use of deportation and detention against refugees and migrants, even for countries where returns are neither permitted nor feasible in practice e.g. Afghanistan or Sudan.
Below, we present a selection of key statistical data on administration detention in Greece in the first half of 2025, drawn from the full content of the note.
Return procedures
The Hellenic Police took a total of 11,402 decisions ordering removal from Greece during the first half of 2025.
Throughout the first half of 2025, Greece carried out a total of 2,658 returns and deportations. These include 1,163 forced removals, 596 voluntary departures within a set deadline under a return decision, and 899 voluntary returns supported by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM):
Official data demonstrate that the overwhelming majority – over 2/3 – of returns and deportations carried out in the first half of 2025 relate solely to nationals of Albania (1,012) and Georgia (796), not represented in arrivals from Evros and the Eastern and Central Mediterranean. Most returns were forced in the case of Albania, while most returns to Georgia were voluntary and implemented through IOM.
Resort to immigration detention
Administrative detention is ordered by the Hellenic Police. Detention orders by the Hellenic Police reached 10,715 in the first half of 2025.
Detention, however, may also take the form of a so-called “restriction on freedom” ordered systematically and automatically by the RIS in the course of screening procedures in RIC and CCAC. Throughout the same period, the RIS took 18,441 five-day freedom restriction orders and 8,487 extensions of such restriction. The majority of freedom restriction orders concern RIC Malakasa (5,399).
This year too, official statistics confirm that the Hellenic Police resorts to pre-removal detention systematically and not as a measure of last resort, in line with international, EU and domestic law. 99.9% of deportation decisions were accompanied by detention, compared to 62.3% in return procedures under L 3907/2011.
The main countries of origin of people placed in immigration detention in the first half of 2025 were Syria (1,988), Afghanistan (1,565) and Egypt (1,413):
Pre-removal detention is conditioned upon the existence of a reasonable prospect of removal from Greece. However, pre-removal detention was imposed against people from Afghanistan, Syria, Somalia, Sudan or Eritrea without a prospect of removal to their country of origin or to Türkiye. We recall that the percentage of positive Asylum Service decisions remain extremely high and close to 100% for several of the above countries.
Judicial review of detention
1,819 objections against detention were lodged in the first half of 2025, corresponding to 17% of the total number of detention orders. Therefore, less than one out of five detention orders were challenged in court. The aforementioned obstacles to accessibility of the administrative appeal against return and deportation decisions, coupled with the complete absence of free legal assistance, adversely affect the effectiveness of access to the objections remedy as well.
50.2% of objections against detention examined by the administrative courts on the merits in the first half of 2025 were granted.
For yet another year, severe disparities persist between judicial review of detention in objections and ex officio judicial review of extensions of detention orders based on domestic asylum and return legislation, even though they relate to the very same provisions and are conducted by the same courts.
The administrative courts quashed more than half of detention orders challenged before them through objections, yet found less than 1% of orders they reviewed ex officio to be unlawful.
We highlight yet again the pressing need for free legal assistance to people subject to immigration detention, given that ex officio judicial review of detention remains manifestly ineffective, as corroborated by official data.
Detention conditions
1,649 people were held in immigration detention at the end of June 2025, a slight increase on the end of the previous year (1,626). Of those, 1,437 were held in six pre-removal detention centres and 212 in police stations throughout Greece:
The main country of origin of people held at the end of the first semester of 2025 was Pakistan (387), whose nationals were mainly detained in Amygdaleza (158) and Corinth (128). The second main country was Egypt (314), whose nationals were mainly held in Amygdaleza (95) and Paranesti (89). The top five countries of origin of people held in immigration detention at the end of the first half of 2025 include Afghanistan and Türkiye.
Data provided in reply to parliamentary questions refer to deployment of Health Units SA (Ανώνυμη Εταιρία Μονάδων Υγείας, AEMY) personnel in the pre-removal detention centres at the end of June 2025 as follows:
These figures point to constant gaps in health care for people in immigration detention and to a reduction in deployments of doctors and nurses compared to the end of 2024. According to the data, only one doctor was present per pre-removal detention centre, even for Amygdaleza where 522 people were held.
