So, the immigrants in question came from North Africa?
Greece: Illegal Immigration in the Midst of Crisis
Once known for its large-scale emigration, Greece transitioned to a country of destination for Central and Eastern European immigrants after the fall of the Soviet Union and other communist regimes in the region. More recently, the country has become one of entry and transit for hundreds of thousands of unauthorized immigrants from Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. As a result, Greece is now grappling with issues related to its highly porous borders, mounting asylum applications, faltering immigrant detention system, allegations of human-rights violations, and the effective integration of the country's many foreign-born permanent residents.
If you dig through all the numbers apparently the entire country of Albania has moved to Greece, making up 60% of legal immigrants. The numbers for illegal immigrants are a bit murkier, however.
Illegal immigration to Greece has increased rapidly over the past several years. Tough immigration policies in Spain and Italy and agreements with their neighboring African countries to combat illegal immigration have changed the direction of African immigration flows toward Greece. At the same time, flows from Asia and the Middle East — mainly Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Bangladesh — to Greece appear to have increased as well.
The evidence now indicates that nearly all illegal immigration to the European Union flows through the country's porous borders. In 2010, 90 percent of all apprehensions for unauthorized entry into the European Union took place in Greece, compared to 75 percent in 2009 and 50 percent in 2008.