Greece proposes return trips for illegal migrants

A senior Greek official says the government will ask Europe’s border protection agency Frontex to help set up a sea deportation route to send migrants who reach the country illegally back to Turkey.

The official tells The Associated Press the plan would involve chartering boats on Lesbos and other Greek islands to send back migrants who were not considered eligible for asylum in the European Union.

The official speaks on condition of anonymity because Athens hasn’t yet formally raised the issue with other European governments.

More than 850,000 migrants and refugees reached Greece in 2015 on their route through the Balkans to central Europe. But the EU is seeking to toughen and better organize procedures for asylum placements, while Balkan countries outside the EU have also imposed stricter transit policies.

— AP