Groups of mostly young men from Sudan and Afghanistan have arrived in a makeshift camp in the Italian town of Oulx, swapping out their sandals for hiking boots and their flip-flops for sturdy trainers and coats. These migrants want to continue on to France and beyond, with more than 130,000 entering Italy in 2021, almost double the same period last year. The numbers heading north to the French border have doubled in the past few months, but French authorities are detaining and pushing back undocumented migrants. This breach of EU law means migrants detained should be subject to an official return decision, with forced removal being the last resort.
Omar from Nigeria paid smugglers $800 to make the perilous crossing across the Mediterranean to Lampedusa after spending several months in Libya. From there, he was moved to two camps elsewhere in Italy. One of his goals is to reach the UK despite the rejection of economic migrants in France and the UK. Although some migrants fail in their attempts, volunteer Elena, who has been working in the makeshift camp for a couple of months, does not view helping the migrants as encouraging illegal migration. She stated, “This is the responsibility of all of Europe.”
Ventimiglia’s mayor, Flavio di Muro, from the far-right Lega party, believes France’s suspension of the Schengen free movement zone is infuriating due to facilitating the checks and pushbacks. He thinks that the EU isn’t working with each country being responsible for setting its own migration limits while Italy bears the burden alone. Migrants camp out in the Italian coastal city of Ventimiglia, close to Nice, and try their luck on a cross-border train as French controls remain stringent.
Red Cross workers found migrants who had developed frostbite and had to have their fingers amputated due to the cold. A new bottleneck is emerging across Europe, with the determination of desperate migrants proving difficult to thwart. The forests of the Alps and the railways of Ventimiglia have become a route for migrants who refuse to abandon their quest for a better life
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