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We Caught a Train With the Migrants Trapped Between European Borders

VICE News traveled to the Italian town of Ventimiglia, where hundreds of migrants are desperate to make their way to France, and hopped a train across the border.
Pierre Longeray
Paris, FR
Image via Pierre Longeray/VICE News

VICE News is closely watching the international migrant crisis. Check out the Open Water blog here.

It is 3pm on Sunday in the Italian border town of Ventimiglia. Groups of migrants and refugees mill around the train station, and all eyes are on the 3.53pm regional service to Nice, France. Four Bangladeshi men and three Afghanis board the train. They sit separately, and do their best to appear inconspicuous.

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Earlier that day, VICE News met the same men and gained unprecedented access to the Red Cross shelter in Ventimiglia — a small town of 55,000 that lies five miles east of the border with France.

Stranded in Ventimiglia
Up until this summer, Ventimiglia was best known for its Tuesday market, which is famously awash with counterfeit designer leather goods. It was also known a destination for French smokers looking to score cheap cigarettes. But since mid-June, this small harbor town has become a way station for hundreds of people awaiting opportunities to cross into France and travel farther north.

Italy is often just one port of call on the migrant journey, with many hoping to reach countries like Sweden, Germany, or the UK, via France.

Related: What We Witnessed at a French Migrant Camp Allegedly Controlled by People Smugglers

Starting on June 11, French police officers have cracked down on migrants and refugees crossing into national territory, forcing hundreds of people to camp out on the France-Italy border or crowd into a narrow corridor in the local train station. In response to the crisis, the Italian Red Cross set up a temporary shelter near the station.

A former border control post in Ventimiglia station, where migrants lived in crowded conditions prior to the opening of the Red Cross shelter. (Image by Pierre Longeray/VICE News)

Luca, a 30-year-old Italian Red Cross volunteer, gave VICE News a tour the facilities, which today house nearly 250 migrants.

We arrived at the shelter at 10am, along with five new migrants. Rain pelted down on the small white tent covering the reception desk. One of the recent arrivals, who was visibly limping, wearing nothing but a pair of orange flip-flops, was immediately taken to the infirmary.

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The remaining four migrants undergo a routine medical check-up the next day. "Everyone who arrives here must be seen by the doctor," explained Luca. "Some of the media have reported that there was a scabies epidemic in the camp, which is not true. Most of those who arrive here are in good health, needing little more than rest and food to reach their destination," he continued.

Migrants inside the Red Cross shelter in Ventimiglia. The medical center is inside the truck. (Image by Pierre Longeray/VICE News)

The shelter is guarded day and night by two police vehicles and both the entrance and exit are protected by iron gates and covered in green tarpaulins. In order to re-enter the camp, migrants must present the ticket they were given upon arrival.

Migrants in Ventimiglia line up outside the canteen for lunch. (Photo by Pierre Longeray/VICE News)

Showers and bathrooms are housed in trailers in the central courtyard and migrants sleep on blue camp beds provided by the Italian government, in several one or two-story buildings that line the courtyard.

The accommodation is basic, but the rooms are clean. At the far end of the camp, under a big white tent, is the small kitchen and the dining room where migrants are served three meals a day.

One of the rooms in the shelter where migrants sleep. (Image by Pierre Longeray/VICE News)

Today's menu features pasta. "Aside from eating and taking naps, there's not much to do here," said Ali [all names have been changed], a Sudanese man living in the shelter for the past three weeks.

Ali, who can't remember whether he is 23 or 24, was rescued by a Red Cross ship after spending 10 days at sea. He tells us he paid $2,800 to a smuggler in Egypt to secure passage across the Mediterranean. His dream is to pursue his studies in the UK.

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At the camp, boredom lurks around every corner. "Sometimes we go out in Ventimiglia," Michael, a migrant from Ghana, told VICE News. "I've gone out to look at the sea, but I don't really have the heart to," he added.

An Italian Red Cross volunteer serves up lunch to migrants in the Ventimiglia shelter. (Image by Pierre Longeray/VICE News)

According to Luca, there is a steady influx of migrants to the camp, many of whom have fled poverty or conflict in Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Mali, Bangladesh, Pakistan, or Afghanistan. Many of those who have landed in Vertimiglia have been on the road for about six months, with migrants leaving behind homes and families, only to find themselves stranded at the gates of France.

Watch the VICE News documentary, Migrant Prisons of Libya: Europe or Die (Full Length):

Train to France
Back at camp, people exchange tips on how to reach France, comparing costs and success rates. Most quote a price between 200 and 300 euros ($225 to $338) to be smuggled across the border— a high price for refugees, many of whom have run out of money by the time they reach Ventimiglia.

The smugglers, they say, show up at night with refrigerated trucks. Farooq, a migrant from Pakistan, explains that some migrants try to walk across the mountain at night, but for that, he adds, you need a map, a guide, or a GPS.

Many of those waiting in Ventimiglia aspire to one day reach the UK. Others have already registered their claims in Italy. Still others — like Farooq and 17-year-old Moussa, from Chad — dream of reaching France. Moussa wants to join the foreign legion and Farooq wants to work as a laborer. "Compared to my country, the economy is good in France," said Farooq.

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Related: 'Everyone Will Make It One Day': Meeting the Calais Migrants Who Dream of England

Two Sudanese migrants look at the train schedule in Ventimiglia station. Behind the gate lies the corridor where migrants took shelter in June. (Image by Pierre Longeray/VICE News)

The most popular route across the border remains the regional train, from Ventimiglia to Nice. Youssef, a 25-year-old Eritrean migrant who arrived at the camp just a few days ago, attempted to board the train the previous night, only to end in failure.

Those who do make it are often met by police officers, who are stationed in the station at Menton-Garavan — the first French station after the border. For Youssef, it's mainly "a matter of luck," but he's too tired to give it another try today.

The train station in Ventimiglia. (Image by Pierre Longeray/VICE News)

A Risky Journey

As the train leaves the platform in Ventimiglia, the tension is palpable. People hesitate, pacing up and down the platform, before boarding the train at the last minute. One of the young Afghani travelers is on the phone, ascertaining where to alight in France. They sit separately, pretending not to know each other.

The train whizzes past the azure Mediterranean and umbrella pines, while British and German tourists argue about museums.

As the train slows outside Menton-Garavan, the migrants prepare to alight. The young Afghani hangs up his phone, placing it next to him on his train ticket.

Related: Protesters Arrested After French Police Stop Train From Italy Carrying Migrants

A French police officer boards the train. "You, you and you and you, out," says one of the officers, pointing to the four Bangladeshi migrants. The men obey, as though they have heard the command a thousand times before.

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"Can I see your documents, please, sir?," the officer asks one of the Afghani migrants. The man hands over his train ticket. "No, your documents, sir, your passport," says the officer. "I don't have any," says the young man. "Then you get off," comes the reply. The same fate awaits his two compatriots.

Outside the station, two police trucks are waiting to pick up the migrants and drive them back to the Red Cross shelter in Italy.

As the train leaves Menton en route to Nice, we notice another migrant from the Ventimiglia camp. With his beach hat and sandals, reading an Italian newspaper, he looks like a tourist coming home from the beach. Police officers pass through the car, but do not ask him for his documents.

The man alights the train at Nice-Riquier, one stop before the main Nice station — where police often conduct checks. Later that day, several migrants will be intercepted there and returned to Italy.

In Youssef's words, it's a matter of luck.

Four people stopped at Nice-Ville station (Image by Pierre Longeray/VICE News)

Follow Pierre Longeray on Twitter: @PLongeray