The government wants to shut down the camps gradually or transform them into open reception centres.
Patients are greeted at a large, open reception desk, and phones have been relegated to an office in the back.
Inside, an open reception area with a designer console greets visitors, replacing two ugly kiosks that cluttered the entrance.
Countries like Italy and Malta, prime entrances for migrants to the EU, have open reception facilities where migrant and asylum-seeking families can come and go at will – and Malta pledged to end immigration detention of children altogether in 2014.
According to the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA), a lack of appropriate shelters for children in almost all reception facilities on the Greek islands means that children are kept in police custody before being transferred to open reception facilities on the mainland.
Advocates for the poor, who were thrilled to have an open reception from Mr. Bloomberg after years of being snubbed by Rudolph W. Giuliani's administration, are now bitterly denouncing the current mayor for excluding them from any role in key policy decisions.
