Greece’s Minister of Migration, Dimitris Kairidis, on Friday morning categorically denied a CBS report, released hours earlier, claiming that the Biden Administration is considering sending migrants to Greece and Italy.
Speaking during a current affairs program on Skai radio, and citing the news pick-up of the CBS exclusive story by TO VIMA, Kairidis said: “The CBS report is not true. There is no such deal with the Americans, and no such request exists.”
Explaining the potential expediency of the anonymous sources that ostensibly spoke to CBS, Kairidis added that “there is tremendous pressure on the Biden administration ahead of the elections. If in Europe we have a problem with irregular migrants – we had 300,000 irregular arrivals in 2023 – in the US they had three million. That’s 10 times the number of Europe.”
He also underlined that “Biden has to handle a major crisis on his southern border”.
Kairidis clarified that while there is no deal with Washington on the table, “what exists is a general discussion in Europe to support regular (legal) migration, as a way to tackle irregular migration and cover the labor market needs with legal employment…This is what we are doing, from the very beginning, with six new agreements that are on track to be signed.”
Responding to the question that perhaps the deal is being discussed on a European level, the Minister responded, “The timing of this report is very suspicious, ten days before European elections.”
According to the CBS report, which was uploaded in a video as well, “…The offices are one component of a broader Biden administration strategy to reduce illegal crossings at the U.S. border by offering would-be migrants legal immigration opportunities. Over the past year, the administration has paired those programs with tougher enforcement measures, including a rule that presumes migrants are ineligible for U.S. asylum if they failed to seek protection in a third country.”
