Pact to transport migrants back to Turkey delayed

ATHENS — Greece detained hundreds of refugees and migrants on its islands Monday, as officials in Athens and the European Union conceded a much-heralded agreement to send thousands of asylum-seekers back to Turkey is facing delays.

Migrants who arrived after the deal took effect Sunday were being led to previously open refugee camps on the islands of Lesbos and Chios and held in detention, authorities on the islands said.

Most were fleeing civil war in Syria and other conflicts, traveling first to Turkey and then to the nearby Greek islands in dinghies and small boats.

Commission officials said support staff needed to implement the deal — including hundreds of translators and migration officers — would not start arriving until next week.

The human rights group Amnesty International sharply criticized the plan.

On the Greek mainland, army personnel expanded refugee shelters at sites in the central and northern parts of the country — mostly at former army bases — so migrants who traveled to the Greek islands before the agreement came into effect could be resettled.