For the uprising in an immigrant structure in Serres, illegal immigration and also for the issue gun ownership the Minister of Immigration spoke Thanos Pleuris.
Regarding the incident in Serres, where two police officers were injured and 30 people were arrested, Thanos Pleuris explained the background to MEGA TV:
“With the new law that we passed in September, those who enter the country illegally are now separated into people who have a refugee profile, so they follow the procedure and apply, wait for their application to be examined and automatically a separation is made between people who do not have a refugee profile”, said the minister and continued:
“In Sintiki there were people who came from Egypt, Pakistan and Bangladesh, so from countries that justify asylum. They entered during the asylum suspension, so they are in a detention status. We made a fast track process to examine their asylum application. As soon as they got the papers, they realized that their asylum was rejected and they will be detained for 24 months, during which deportation procedures will be carried out, and they reacted.”
As Mr. Pleuris mentioned, for the period of the months of August, September and October of 2024, 20,279 immigrants arrived in the country by sea, while in the corresponding period for 2025, 11,307 people arrived.
“The nationalities and people who do not justify asylum have decreased,” he noted.
The minister’s statements:
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“When someone is a refugee, he has all the rights of a refugee. When he takes advantage of refugee status for economic reasons, he should know that he is returning. Fortunately, Europe has changed, it has entered into a logic that illegal immigration is a problem and not a solution.”
He also stated that the immigration policy followed by American President Trump is correct, while regarding gun ownership he stated the following:
“The issue of gun ownership can exist with a lot of strict rules and only for the home. I’m not a fan of a model where you turn 18 and you can get a gun because you’re an adult citizen. I’m not a fan of a lot of guns,” he said.