The United States has started flying migrants out of a Texas border town that has seen an influx of mostly Haitian migrants over the past week. Three flights landed at Haiti’s Port-au-Prince airport on Sunday, each carrying 145 people, the Associated Press (AP) reports. About 13,000 would-be immigrants have gathered under a bridge connecting Del Rio in Texas to Mexico’s Ciudad Acuña. They have been waiting in a makeshift camp in temperatures of 37C (99F). An emergency US public health order known as Title 42 allows authorities to expel most migrants before they can claim asylum. Local officials have struggled … Continue reading US flies Haitian migrants back home from border

Italian coastguard vessels have rescued 539 migrants from a fishing boat drifting off the island of Lampedusa. The rescue on Saturday delivered one of the largest numbers of migrants to the Italian island in a single day. Women and children were among those on board. Some of the migrants – who had been travelling across the Mediterranean Sea from Libya – reportedly displayed signs of violence. Italian prosecutors have opened an inquiry into what may have happened. A doctor from the humanitarian group MSF (Doctors Without Borders), Alida Serrachieri, said a number of the migrants appeared to have been physically … Continue reading More than 500 people rescued off Italian island

The US Supreme Court has ordered President Joe Biden to reinstate a policy of making asylum seekers stay in Mexico while claims are processed. The policy was put in place by his predecessor, Donald Trump, as part of his measures to restrict the number of asylum seekers entering the US. But Mr Biden suspended it on his first day of office. Rights groups say the policy subjects migrants to dangerous conditions in Mexico’s border towns. On Tuesday, the Supreme Court rejected a bid to block a Texas-based judge’s ruling requiring the government to revive the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) policy. … Continue reading US court rules asylum seekers must stay in Mexico

More than 50 people are feared dead after a boat capsized in the Atlantic Ocean about 220 kilometres (135 miles) off Spain’s Canary Islands. Spain’s Maritime Rescue Service said a 30-year-old woman was the sole survivor saved on Thursday from the sinking dinghy, which had left Africa a week earlier carrying 53 migrants and refugees. A merchant ship had earlier spotted the vessel south of the Canary Islands and alerted Spanish emergency services. The woman was clinging to the sinking craft with a dead man and a dead woman next to her, a rescue service official, who spoke on condition … Continue reading OMG: 52 people feared dead as boat capsizes near Canary Islands

Up to 47 people including three minors are missing and suspected to have died after their boat encountered engine trouble on the passage from Western Sahara to Spain’s Canary Islands, the United Nations migration agency said on Tuesday. A boat carrying 54 people left Laayoune in Western Sahara on August 3 before the engine failed, according to the testimony of seven survivors who were picked up by the Mauritanian coastguard. “We are working with the Mauritanian authorities to search for the bodies of those migrants who died en route to the Canary Islands,” said Boubacar Seybou, an IOM spokesman. Fuerteventura, … Continue reading Dozens of migrants lost at sea off Mauritanian coast

At least 10 people have been killed and 20 injured after the van they were travelling in crashed in Texas. US authorities said the vehicle was driving at high speed when it tried to veer off a highway and hit a metal pole and stop sign in the city of Encino. A Texas state official said 30 people were onboard, but the van had only been designed to carry 15 passengers. It is believed that some of the passengers were undocumented migrants who had crossed the border from Mexico. The driver and nine passengers were pronounced dead at the scene. … Continue reading Tragic: Migrant van crash kills at least 10 in Texas

A boat carrying migrants has capsized off Libya, leaving at least 57 people presumed dead, a UN migration official has said. Safa Msehli, a spokesperson for the International Organization for Migration, said the boat left the western coastal town of Khums on Sunday. There were at least 75 people on board. Eighteen people from the vessel were rescued and returned to shore on Monday, Msehli said. The survivors, who are from Nigeria, Ghana and Gambia, reported the vessel had stopped due to an engine problem, then capsized amid bad weather, Msehli said. “According to survivors brought to shore by fishermen … Continue reading UN: Dozens presumed dead after boat capsizes off Libya coast

More than 200 migrants and refugees have crossed into Spain’s North African enclave of Melilla after climbing the high fence that separates it from Morocco, according to local authorities. In total, more than 300 migrants attempted to scale the six-metre (20 foot) barrier early on Thursday morning, the authorities said in a statement. The 238 who made it into the territory were all men. Three police officers were slightly injured when they tried to stop them from making the crossing, the statement added. Those who entered Melilla were later taken to a processing centre where they will be required to … Continue reading More than 200 migrants scale fence into Spain’s Melilla enclave

A minibus carrying undocumented Afghan, Pakistani and Bangladeshi migrants has crashed in eastern Turkey, killing at least 12 people and injuring 26 others, according to local authorities. The crash occurred on Sunday morning in Van province’s Muradiye district near the Turkish border with Iran, where the vehicle caught fire after tumbling into a ditch, two local sources with information on the matter told Reuters news agency. The identities of those killed in the accident were not immediately clear, both sources said, adding that the owner of the bus had been arrested. Television broadcasts showed survivors being treated by the roadside … Continue reading 12 dead as bus carrying migrants crashes in Turkey

The bodies of 25 migrants have been recovered off the coast of Yemen after their boat, reportedly carrying up to 200 people, capsized, a provincial official told AFP news agency. “The boat overturned two days ago and was carrying between 160 and 200 people,” said Jalil Ahmed Ali from the Lahij provincial authority, citing information given by Yemeni smugglers. The fate of the other people on board was unclear. Fishermen in southern Yemen told AFP they had recovered the 25 bodies of victims who appeared to be of African origin, some of the many who try to reach Yemen before … Continue reading Bodies of 25 migrants recovered off Yemen’s coast

Denmark’s parliament has passed a law enabling the Nordic country to deport asylum seekers to countries outside Europe, defying calls to abandon the legislation from NGOs and the United Nations. The move was headed by Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen’s Social Democratic anti-immigration government; 70 legislators voted for the proposal and 24 against on Thursday. The law allows Denmark, which has gained notoriety for its hardline immigration policies over the last decade, to move refugees arriving on Danish soil to asylum centres in a partner country. There, asylum seekers would have their cases reviewed and possibly obtain protection in that country. … Continue reading Danish parliament approves law to deport asylum seekers

Images of dead children and women washed up on a beach in Libya have been shared by a Spanish charity. The NGO Proactiva Open Arms received some of the photos from inside Libya and said they are of people who had tried to cross the Mediterranean to Europe, a dangerous route for migrants. They show the partially clothed bodies of small children and a woman, bloated and half buried in the sand. At least 743 migrants are known to have died in the Mediterranean this year. According to the data published by UN’s International Organization for Migration, there have been 630 … Continue reading So Tragic: Dead children washed up on Libya beach, says charity