A voluntary return scheme for asylum seekers and illegal migrants has helped over 10,000 people leave Greece voluntarily, with almost 2,500 opening small businesses in their countries of origin.

The Mediterranean country remains under significant strain after over 815,000 migrants flooded the country in 2015, with a multi-billion euro deal between the EU and Turkey reducing the number of sea landings significantly but leaving huge numbers squatting in the Greek islands, waiting for asylum applications to be processed.

The UN Migration Agency, also known as the International Organization for Migration (IoM), has tried to alleviate the tremendous burden on the riot-wracked islands through the Assisted Voluntary Return including Reintegration Measures (AVRR) scheme funded by the EU and the Greek government — a voluntary repatriation programme of the sort advocated by the famous British mass migration critic Enoch Powell.

Kassam: 50 Years On, It's Clear to Me That Enoch Was Right https://t.co/4zjSYfzHro — Raheem Kassam (@RaheemKassam) April 20, 2018

The UN agency — despite frequently campaigning for Westerners to accept mass migration as “inevitable, desirable, [and] necessary” — reports having helped some 10,000 migrants who withttps://www.breitbart.com/”contribute to the economic and social sustainability of their communities”.

“Staff from IoM Greece recently came to evaluate my business and I am really proud to show that my shop is neat and clean,” said Fadil, a Moroccan returnee who used the asssistance to open a butcher shop in Marrakech.

“I also got a sanitary license from the commune. My business is running well as there are no similar shops in the area.”

Kassam’s ‘Enoch Was Right’ Hits #5 Movers and Shakers on Amazon, British Top 100 – Despite MEDIA BLACKOUT https://t.co/tggsoGi3is — Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) April 22, 2018

The number of returnees would have to rise significantly to get ahead of the migrant crisis, but the success of the scheme in helping migrants to leave a Western country and make productive contributions to the countries they once wished to leave is a troubling development for left-liberal commentators in Britain, who have long opposed voluntary repatriation schemes.

Enoch Powell, the late Wolverhampton MP, Second World War veteran, and classical scholar who warned that mass migration would lead to segregation and inter-community violence in 1968, was heavily criticised for his positive endorsement of voluntary repatriation for first- and second-generation migrants who did not regard the United Kingdom as home.

In fact, the British government has run and continues to run several small scale voluntary return schemes since 1971 — although the funding involved is relatively low and applies only to a small number of migrants.

Powell’s speech, ideas, and legacy continue to have a profound impat on British politics, are were the subject of a recent book by Breitbart London editor-in-chief Raheem Kassam.

Follow Jack Montgomery on Twitter: @JackBMontgomery