Follow The Money: Massive Profits For 'Nonprofit' Organizations And Human Smuggling

Greece: "Humanitarian Aid" Organization's People-Smuggling

• Emergency Response Centre International (ERCI) describes itself as a "Greek nonprofit organization that provides emergency response and humanitarian aid in times of crisis...." It has reportedly abetted the illegal entry into Greece of 70,000 immigrants since 2015, providing the "nonprofit" with half a billion euros per year.
  
  
• ECRI evidently received 2,000 euros from each illegal immigrant it helped to enter Greece. In addition, its members created a business for "integrating refugees" into Greek society, granting it 5,000 euros per immigrant per year from various government programs (in education, housing and nutrition).
  
  
• With the government of Greece seemingly at a loss as to how to handle its refugee crisis and safeguard the security of its citizens, it is particularly dismaying to discover that the major NGO whose mandate is to provide humanitarian aid to immigrants is instead profiting from smuggling them.
  
  

On August 28, thirty members of the Greek NGO Emergency Response Centre International (ERCI) were arrested for their involvement in a people-smuggling network that has been operating on the island of Lesbos since 2015. According to a statement released by Greek police, as a result of the investigation that led to the arrests, "The activities of an organised criminal network that systematically facilitated the illegal entry of foreigners were fully exposed."

Among the activities uncovered were forgery, espionage and the illegal monitoring of both the Greek coastguard and the EU border agency, Frontex, for the purpose of gleaning confidential information about Turkish refugee flows. The investigation also led to the discovery of an additional six Greeks and 24 foreign nationals implicated in the case.

ERCI describes itself as:

"[A] Greek nonprofit organization that provides emergency response and humanitarian aid in times of crisis. ERCI's philosophy is to identify the gaps of humanitarian aid and step in to assist in the most efficient and impactful manner. Currently ERCI has 4 active programs working with refugees in Greece in the areas of Search and Rescue, Medical, Education and Refugee Camp Coordination."

In spite of its stated mission and non-profit profile, however, ECRI -- according to Greek authorities, has earned considerable sums of money from its serving as a conduit for illegal activities. ECRI evidently received 2,000 euros from each illegal immigrant it helped to enter Greece. In addition, its members created a business for "integrating refugees" into Greek society, granting it 5,000 euros per immigrant per year from various government programs (in education, housing and nutrition). ERCI has reportedly abetted the illegal entry into Greece of 70,000 immigrants since 2015, providing the "non-profit" with half a billion euros per year.

This revelation, however, does not begin to cover the extent of the illegal activities surrounding the entry of migrants into Greece. In 2017, for instance, Greek authorities arrested 1,399 people-smugglers, some under the cover of "humanitarian" operations; and during the first four months of 2018, authorities arrested 25,594 illegal immigrants.

More worrisome than the literally steep price paid to people-smugglers by the immigrants themselves -- or that doled out by the Greek government in the form of integration subsidies -- is the toll the situation is taking on Greek society as a whole.