Island mayors at loggerheads with government over migrant camp plans

Migration Minister Notis Mitarakis on Tuesday said that a meeting scheduled later this week with the mayors of the northern and eastern Aegean islands that are slated to acquire closed pre-deportation migrant centers has been cancelled amid reactions from local authorities.

"We haven't blindsided anyone," Mitarakis said in televised comments on Tuesday, responding to a backlash from local mayors to Monday's announcement of legislation allowing the state to requisition land on the islands of Lesvos, Chios, Samos, Kos and Leros - which already have migrant processing centers - for the construction of facilities where migrants whose asylum requests have been rejected will be held in detention until their departure.

"The government's position on the issue of the closed centers has been known since November," Mitarakis said, adding that new open camps are being planned on...

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