Tens of thousands of migrants arrive in Italy without valid documents and want to continue on, for example to Germany. As it turns out, this is not complicated at all, reveals a report by ARD.
The area around the reception center for migrants in the southern Italian city of Taranto does not look particularly cozy: on one side there is an industrial area, on the other – a street clogged with garbage, ARD describes the situation. On a gray December morning, the doors of the center open for 44 newly arrived migrants, among whom are two brothers from Syria – Mohammed and Ibrahim. For them, the Italian coast is only a starting point for reaching their dream country – Germany. And it does not matter that the European rules provide otherwise, writes the German public legal media, quoted by DW.
Migrants, in principle, have the right to apply for asylum only in the country that first registered them, reminds ARD. The Italian authorities registered them, but Mohamed and Ibrahim did not apply for asylum. They were eventually taken to another refugee center 80 km away, near Lecce. Figures available to German media indicate that only ten percent of migrants who reached Italy (more than 130,000 this year) applied for asylum there.
The target is clear: Germany
Mohammed has a very specific plan, which he shares with the journalists from ARD. “We want to go to Germany. It’s a very democratic country with a strong economy and lots of job opportunities.” However, the most important thing in the eyes of the Syrians is that Germany “provides the most serious help to the people who need it”.
The 31-year-old former mechanical engineering student and his 25-year-old brother Ibrahim are from Damascus. The two said that the area where they lived was not affected by the war, but they were afraid of being mobilized.
In 2021, the two went to Libya, where they worked for two and a half years to earn the money for the trip to Germany. The traffickers asked them 4,000 euros for the trip to Italy, writes the German media, to which Mohammed tells about the difficult crossing of the Mediterranean Sea. The ship “Geo Barents” of the humanitarian organization “Doctors Without Borders” rescued the brothers and took them to Taranto.
“Hard times make strong men”
The detention center in which Mohammed and Ibrahim are housed is of an open type – migrants can leave it and move freely around the country. After just one night in Italy, the brothers don’t want to waste any more time and have already packed their bags, as they share with ARD.
Mohammed discussed with the other residents of the center how to get to Germany the fastest. “I asked where the train station was. Now I’m going to buy tickets and we’re off,” he explains. When asked by ARD if he knew he would have to cross borders, which he is not allowed to do, Mohammed answers in English with a smile: “Hard times make strong men.”
Traveling by train does not pose any particular risks
The two brothers impressively quickly managed to establish contacts with other migrants in order to facilitate their journey to Germany, commented the German social-legal media. At the train station in Lecce, they buy tickets for the night train to Milan, from where they will continue north. “I have friends in Munich, Berlin, Stuttgart and Düsseldorf,” lists Mohammed. He and his brother would like to go to Munich, the two told ARD.
About 80 percent of passengers on the night train are migrants. Late at night three Italian policemen come in and do random checks. Mohammed and Ibrahim pass between the drops and in the morning they are already in Milan. Meanwhile, after talking to other migrants on the train, Mohammed changed his plans – he decided to travel to Stuttgart. “I’m looking for a city where it’s easier to get documents,” the Syrian explained to ARD.
Exactly three days to the cherished goal
In Milan, the two separated for a while from the German reporters and disappeared for a few hours in the city. That evening, they receive a money order from their sister, buy new clothes and get haircuts.
The plan is now to travel to Switzerland, and from there to Germany. Late in the evening, the brothers from Damascus send the ARD reporters their photo from Zurich. And the next morning – and a message from Stuttgart. Three days after arriving in southern Italy, Mohammed and Ibrahim reached Germany without valid documents, their story shows.
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2023-12-10 20:00:00
#Africa #Germany #documents #surprise #complicated
