In Germany, the number of asylum seekers without a passport or other valid proof of identity is shrinking compared to a few years ago. However, about 45% of adults who sought protection for the first time in Germany last year still were unable to present official identification documents when lodging their application.
Authorities in Laayoune, Morocco have been subjecting sub-Saharan migrants to constant harassment, an Ivorian in the city has told InfoMigrants. He said scores of migrants are being arrested and detained every day and "danger is everywhere."
Bangladeshi migrant B. Khandakar traveled to Europe to find work and support his family. What he found instead was misery, debt and a tragic death.
Authorities arrested 205 people allegedly tied to Central and Eastern European gangs smuggling tens of thousands of Syrians in the EU. The €150 million ring reportedly used Vienna as a hub to move migrants from Hungary to Germany and France.
Greek police on the island of Rhodes announced on Monday that they arrested four suspected migrant smugglers. Another three people allegedly connected to their smuggling network were arrested in Athens.
A joint police operation between Greek and German forces has resulted in one arrest and four raided locations belonging to a smuggling ring operating between Germany and Greece.
Following the deaths of nine migrants headed towards the Canary Islands in March 2021, two people have each been sentenced to nine years in prison. Two young children were among those who died.
Many unaccompanied minors are among roughly a thousand people who currently live in unofficial settlements around Calais. A number of NGOs have deplored the chronic lack of accommodation places for these young people, made even more vulnerable by the "zero fixed settlement point" strategy.
The German Federal Police have joined France and the UK in an anti-people-smuggling operation called ‘Small Boats’. They say smugglers are buying boats in Germany with the aim of transporting migrants across the Channel.
18-year-old Abdullah from Darfur was held south of Tripoli by a smuggler who tortured him to try to get a ransom. When the money did not arrive, the smuggler covered the Sudanese teenager with gasoline and set him on fire, InfoMigrants was told. Abdullah is now in hospital in Tripoli in a serious condition.
Hungarian police have fired several gunshots at a truck carrying about 30 hidden passengers presumed to be irregular migrants. The vehicle drove through a checkpoint at the country's border with Austria without stopping when police tried to intervene.
Greek authorities have charged three people with murder following the death of 16 migrants after a boat overturned in the Aegean Sea last Friday.