Destination: Germany — Obstacle: Switzerland
18th September 2016
African migrants who arrive in southern Italy aren’t interested in staying in Italy. Like most of the immigrants to Europe, they want to travel onwards to the Promised Land: Germany. The Italians ignore the Dublin rules and pass the new arrivals on to Switzerland. But the Swiss have decided to be sticklers about Schengen Zone protocols: if a migrant filed an asylum application in Italy, he has to return to Italy, as the rules require.
Some of the migrants treat the Swiss border as a revolving door, and show up again later. Others are camped out in Switzerland. And more are jammed up on the Italian side of the border.