Europe closing off the migrant flood for now, but

6-14-17     Coupled with terror incidents being attributed to migrants and refugees and an interlinked rise in hostility, 2016 saw a steep decline with 364,000 people seeking asylum in Europe. 

Many European countries erected fences to prevent migrants. The Balkan route was shut down. The EU made a deal with Turkey to monitor and block the Aegean Sea route, the main route taken by asylum seekers to reach Europe via Greece. 

Turkey, which happened to be the gateway for Syrian migrants to enter in Europe, sealed its border with Syria. 

2017, it seems, is following last year's trend. The first six months of the year have seen just over 70,000 asylum seekers arrive in Europe via the sea and at thie rate, the number for the entire year is likely not going to be more than 150,000.

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/europe-shutting-doors-on-migrants/1/978224.html
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5-5-17     The migrants arriving in Italy are overwhelmingly economic migrants seeking a better life in Europe. Only a very small number appear to be legitimate asylum seekers or refugees fleeing warzones.
The director of the UN office in Geneva, Michael Møller, has warned that Europe must prepare for the arrival of millions more migrants from Africa, Asia and the Middle East.  

• At a press conference in Brussels on May 2, the EU Commissioner in charge of migration, Dimitris Avramopoulos, called on Austria, Denmark, Germany, Norway and Sweden — among the wealthiest and most sought after destinations in Europe for migrants — to phase out the temporary controls currently in place at their internal Schengen borders over the next six months.                     https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/10307/europe-more-migrants

4-19-17    Erdogan may turn the screws on the EU if it doesn’t allow 75 million Turks visa-free travel to the 28 member states by letting refugees into Europe.

Mevlut Cavusoglu, the Turkish foreign minister, recently warned that unless the EU granted visa-free travel Turkey would tear up the migration deal.

A senior Greek official told The Times the country’s military had drawn up emergency plans to cope with a new refugee crisis.   https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/3362062/turkey-threatens-to-throw-open-its-borders-and-flood-europe-with-migrants-unless-eu-allows-visa-free-travel-for-turks/

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Refugees and migrants arrive aboard the passenger ferry Nissos Rodos at the port of Piraeus, near Athens, Greece, Jan. 13, 2016.

1-25-16  BUDAPEST — 

Opinions of young Europeans appear to be hardening toward immigration.  Ask them about their lives and talk quickly turns to the challenge of finding jobs and the threat of Europe being overrun by migrants.  https://www.voanews.com/a/european-young-turn-against-immigration/3161406.html

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For roughly 180 U.S. dollars, migrants may pay to ride on top of lorries that shuttle goods across the desert between Niger and Libya.

The largest flow of modern African migration funnels through a single country — Libya.

Coming from the south, migrants flee the vestiges of wars that have left entire nations in ruin. From the east, they escape a life of indefinite military servitude and violent conflict. From the west, they evade destitution and governments that arbitrarily jail whomever they please. http://www.msnbc.com/specials/migrant-crisis/libya

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