Migration

Italian PM Conte wants financial penalties for those refusing to carry the burden of migration

Premier Giuseppe Conte said Wednesday that EU member States which refuse to share the burden of the arrival of migrants should face financial penalties. "Those who do not participate in…

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Von der Leyen calls for new pact on migration

European Commission President-elect Ursula von der Leyen has called for a "new pact on migration and asylum". She made the call in letters to future commissioners, Vice President with the…

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Human traffickers stealing yachts for Aegean crossings

There has been a surge in reports of theft of luxury boats on Turkey's Aegean coast to then be used for smuggling illegal migrants from Turkish shores to Greek islands.…

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Pentagon chief suggests European allies replace funds diverted to US border wall

U.S. Defence Secretary Mark Esper said that European nations should consider funding projects in their countries after the Pentagon diverted money to pay for a border wall with Mexico. “The…

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Salvini investigated for defaming Sea-Watch captain Rackete

Former interior minister and anti-migrant League party leader Matteo Salvini was placed under investigation Thursday on suspicion of defaming Carla Rackete, the German skipper of the migrant rescue NGO ship…

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Mediterranean migrant arrivals reach 46,521 in 2019; Deaths reach 909

IOM reports that 46,521migrants and refugees have entered Europe by sea through 28 August, roughly a 32 per cent decrease from the 68,029 arriving during the same period last year.…

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Greece launches measures to deal with increase in migrant flows

Greece announced it would step up border patrols and move asylum-seekers on its islands to the mainland in an effort to deal with a resurgence in migrant flows from neighbouring…

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IOM launches five campaigns to prevent irregular migration in Central America

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) is currently launching five campaigns to prevent the risks of irregular migration and encourage informed decision making among potential young Central American migrants. Mexico,…

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Salvini closes Italy’s ports to German refugee rescue ship

Interior Minister Matteo Salvini banned a German humanitarian ship carrying migrants rescued off Libya from entering Italian territorial waters. The boat took aboard 100 people from a rubber lifeboat sinking…

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Spanish warship en route to Lampedusa

A view of Lampedusa island coastline taken on board of Spanish Navy's vessel Audaz, as the ship prepares to arrive in the port of Lampedusa, Italy, 23 August 2019. The…

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UK and France to discuss Channel migrant crossings after dozens rescued

Home secretary Priti Patel will hold talks with her French counterpart after dozens of migrants were rescued on Thursday while trying to cross the Channel. In four separate events along…

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France says will take some migrants from Ocean Viking as ship runs out of food

France has said it will take some migrants from the NGO migrant rescue ship Ocean Viking which has been stalled at sea for 13 days with 356 migrants aboard after…

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US moves to abolish child migrant custody limits

Migrant families who cross the southern border of the US illegally could be detained indefinitely under a new regulation announced by the Trump administration. President Donald Trump said it would…

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German captain of migrant rescue vessel refuses honour from Paris

Pia Klemp, the German captain of rescue ship Iuventa, that saved hundreds of migrants’ lives in the Mediterranean has turned down Paris’s highest civilian award, accusing the city of hypocrisy…

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Ocean Viking migrant rescue ship still stranded in the Mediterranean

France has become the first EU member state to say it would welcome some of the 356 migrants on board the stranded rescue ship Ocean Viking. It is currently waiting…

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Photo Story: Migrants at sea off Lampedusa

A handout photo made available by the Italian Coast Guard shows a migrant being rescued at sea after diving from the Open Arms ship off the coast of Lampedusa, southern…

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Migrants on-board Open Arms disembark

Migrants on-board the Open Arms rescue ship disembarked the vessel at the Italian port of Lampedusa late last night after spending 19 days stranded at sea. It comes after an…

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The situation on Open Arms is explosive – Agrigento Chief Prosecutor

The situation aboard the Spanish NGO migrant rescue ship Open Arms is "explosive", Agrigento chief prosecutor Luigi Patronaggio said Tuesday adding that he was travelling to Lampedusa by helicopter to…

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Gere says Salvini is ‘Baby Trump’

Richard Gere has a nickname for Italy's far-right Interior Minister Matteo Salvini: "Baby Trump." The American actor told Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera on Monday that U.S. President Donald Trump and…

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Ocean Viking rescues migrants off the Libyan coast

A handout photo dated 12 August 2019 and made available by SOS Mediterranee 19 August 2019, showing rescue vessel Ocean Viking rescuing a group of migrants off the coast of…

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Spain and Italy close to deal to disembark Open Arms migrants in Mallorca

Spain and Italy appear to have struck a deal that will see the 107 migrants stranded in the Mediterranean for 18 days disembark at the Spanish port of Mallorca, Spanish…

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Spain makes new offer to Open Arms

Spain has made another offer to the Open Arms migrant rescue vessel situated off the coast of Italy to dock at the nearest Spanish port. It's after the boat with…

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39% reduction in the arrival of irregular migrants in Spain

The latest data on irregular migrant arrivals from Morocco to Spain, covering the present year to Tuesday of this week, shows a 39% drop compared with the same period in…

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European Commission says Open Arms situation untenable

Open Arms remains close to the Italian island of Lampedusa, but the future of 134 migrants aboard remains unclear. Only a handful of people could disembark for medical reasons. The…

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Four people disembark from the Open Arms in Lampedusa

Four migrants from the ship of the Spanish Open Arms NGO disembark for medical treatment, in the port of Lampedusa, Italy. Nine others on board were allowed to land the…

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Merkel calls for restarting EU migrant rescue mission, emphasizes need to fix root cause of migration

Several months after the EU's migrant rescue mission in the Mediterranean was suspended, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has called for the operation to be resumed once more. The operation was…

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Open Arms enters Italian waters outside Lampedusa

The Spanish humanitarian ship Open Arms entered Italian territorial waters off the Italian island of Lampedusa with 147 rescued migrants on board . It headed to the island after a…

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Frontex releases video showing the moment stranded migrants were spotted from the air

Video released on Wednesday by the European Union’s border agency Frontex reveals the moment when two men were first spotted lying aboard a dinghy floating in the Mediterranean. On Monday,…

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‘Migrants experiencing horrific circumstances in Libya,’ says Spanish NGO Open Arms

The number of migrants stranded in the Mediterranean Sea has risen to more than 500. Open Arms, the Spanish NGO operating one of the vessels, said they felt "abandoned" and…

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Migrant arrivals in Europe in July up slightly from previous month

In July, the number of detections of illegal border crossings on Europe’s main migratory routes rose 4% from the previous month to around 10 500. Overall, the total for…

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Richard Gere and Matteo Salvini clash over migrants

Hollywood star Richard Gere has called upon the Italian government to assist migrants who have been stranded on a Spanish charity boat in the Mediterranean for more than a week.…

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Refugee who lived in Malta among the victims of Dayton shooting

The Washington Post reports that among the victims of the Dayton, Ohio, mass shooting there is an Eritrean refugee who lived and worked in Malta in order to be able…

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Suspect arrested in Greece for large-scale document forgery

With the support of Europol, a 50-year old individual was arrested in Greece for large-scale forgery of documents and facilitating illegal immigration. During the action day on 11 July, the…

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Cyprus asks EU help to relocate 5,000 asylum seekers

Cyprus has asked the European Commission to help relocate 5,000 asylum seekers to other EU countries as the island nation struggles to accommodate an influx of migrants. POLITICO reports that in…

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Malta bans entry to Open Arms rescue vessel – Reports

The Government of Malta has banned the Open Arms vessel, of the Proactiva NGO, from entering its territorial waters, TgCom reports. Among the 121 migrants on board there would also…

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Boat carrying 48 persons arrives in Lampedusa

A boat carrying 48 migrants, including 27 women, three of whom are pregnant, and six minors, arrived on its own steam on the island of Lampedusa on Monday. According to…

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EU border force implicated in migrant abuse

German and British media published reports on Monday that place the European Union border agency Frontex at the scene of illegal activities by national border guards that may have constituted…

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Germany wants tougher checks on Swiss border

Germany's interior minister has told Der Spiegel magazine that he is planning to submit a concept for enhanced covert checks and brief searches of travellers along Germany's border with Switzerland. Horst Seehofer's…

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Open Arms ship rescues more migrants

The Open Arms NGO said Friday that one its ships saved 69 people in the Mediterranean overnight and it called for the vessel to be assigned a port of safety.…

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Salvini accuses Germany of ‘blackmail’ over migration

Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini accused Germany on Thursday of "blackmail" in the latest spat between the two countries over migrants rescued at sea. According to German media, Salvini wrote in…

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Salvini bans the Alan Kurdi from entering Italian waters

Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini has banned the Alan Kurdi rescue ship carrying forty migrants from entering Italian waters. The Alan Kurdi is run by German charity Sea-Eye and…

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Alan Kurdi heads to Lampedusa with 40 migrants on-board

Migrant rescue ship the ‘Alan Kurdi’, is heading to Lampedusa with 40 migrants on-board that it rescued off the coast of Libya. The ship is heading to Lampedusa as it…

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Italy reaches deal with five EU nations over stranded migrants on the ‘Bruno Gregoretti’

Italy announced that it would allow an Italian coastguard ship to finally disembark 116 migrants who were stranded for days in a Sicilian port, ending its latest standoff with the…

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EU seeks volunteer countries to take in migrants stranded at Italian port

Italy is engaged in another standoff with the European Union over migrants in the Mediterranean, refusing to allow 115 Africans to disembark in Sicily. They are on board the Bruno…

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Senior UN officials call for return to sea rescues, after ‘the worst Mediterranean tragedy of this year

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, along with the heads of a number of UN agencies, expressed horror at Thursday’s reports that as many as 150 people may be dead after a boat…

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62 bodies recovered from Mediterranean’s worst tragedy this year

Libya's Red Crescent said Friday its rescue workers had recovered the bodies of 62 migrants a day after one of the deadliest shipwrecks this year in the Mediterranean. "Our Red…

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Germany to increase emergency aid for refugees and migrants in Libya

Germany through it’s Foreign Minister Heiko Maas announced that it will be increasing the emergency aid for refugees and migrants in Libya. Foreign Minister Maas said that the situation of…

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SOS Mediterranée resumes migrant rescues off Libya

Humanitarian group SOS Mediterranee announced it has relaunched migrant rescue operations off Libya, seven months after it was forced to abandon efforts using its ship Aquarius. SOS Mediterranee and…

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Maltese-registered cruise ship rescues over a hundred migrants near Greece

A Maltese-registered cruise ship sailing close to the Greek mainland has rescued more than a hundred migrants, the country's coast guard said on Sunday. The migrants were picked up by the…

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Spain will give Morocco €30 million to curb irregular immigration

Spain’s acting government will approve a €30 million outlay to fund Morocco’s efforts at curbing irregular immigration into Europe. This direct injection of funds is in addition to the €140…

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People smuggling network busted in Greece

The Greek Police, supported by Europol, dismantled an organised criminal group (OCG) smuggling migrants from Turkey to Greece and facilitating their secondary movements to other EU Member States. The network…

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Italy to fine migrant rescue ships €1 million

NGO run migrant rescue ships will be fined up to one million euros for defying a ban on entering Italian waters under a new League amendment to the government's second…

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EU interior ministers fail to find compromise on Mediterranean refugee rescue

European Union interior ministers meeting in Finland on Thursday failed to strike a stopgap deal to address ongoing disagreements about the bloc's migration policies, particularly issues of who should take…

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Pentagon to deploy additional 2,100 troops to U.S.-Mexico border

The Pentagon announced it would send an additional 1,000 Texas National Guard and 1,100 active duty troops to the border with Mexico, the latest deployment in support of President Donald…

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US launches raids targeting migrant families

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Sunday launched raids targeting undocumented migrants across the country, according to the US officials. US President Donald Trump described Sunday's planned action targeting families as a…

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Germany calls for EU migrant redistribution ‘coalition’

Germany's foreign minister says willing EU countries should redistribute migrants saved in the Mediterranean Sea. Some EU countries have vehemently opposed any form of redistribution in recent years. Foreign Minister…

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IOM, Experts Gather on Environmental Migration and Reintegration of Returning Migrants

In West Africa, environmental challenges are widely believed to drive migration from rural areas, where livelihoods are largely dependent on natural resources (agriculture, mining and fisheries). Simultaneously, these challenges impact…

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