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Mediterranean migrants

Migrants stay in a tent camp near the Bruzgi checkpoint on the Polish border, on Wednesday. Leonid Shcheglov/Leonid Shcheglov/BelTA/TASS hide caption

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Leonid Shcheglov/Leonid Shcheglov/BelTA/TASS
Hokyoung Kim for NPR

Asylum-Seekers Make Harrowing Journeys In Pandemic, Only To Be Turned Back

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Migrants disembark in a port in southern Spain, after being rescued by a Spanish nongovernmental organization's rescue vessel in December. Spain saw an influx of migrants last year, as total migration across the Mediterranean fell. Olmo Calvo/AP hide caption

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Olmo Calvo/AP

The rescue ship Aquarius, chartered by aid groups SOS Mediterranee and Doctors Without Borders, leaves the harbor of Marseille, France, on Aug. 1. The ship has been docked at Marseille since September, when it lost its registration, and Italian authorities are demanding its seizure. Boris Horvat/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

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Boris Horvat/AFP/Getty Images

A Spanish government relief worker plays with a young migrant child at a sports center in San Roque, southern Spain, after the child was rescued by Spain's Maritime Rescue Service in the Strait of Gibraltar on Aug. 1. Marcos Moreno/AP hide caption

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Marcos Moreno/AP

Spain Now Sees More Migrant Arrivals Than Any Other European Country

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Migrants wait to disembark from the rescue ship Aquarius in the Sicilian harbor of Catania, Italy, on May 27. This past weekend the ship picked up more migrants, but was turned away from ports in Sicily and the nearby country of Malta. Now it will head for Spain instead. Guglielmo Mangiapane/Reuters hide caption

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Guglielmo Mangiapane/Reuters

The Aquarius, a former North Atlantic fisheries protection ship now used by humanitarian groups SOS Mediterranee and Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders), is seen in December 2017 during a rescue operation in the Mediterranean Sea. The rescue ship was stranded this weekend after Italy and Malta refused to allow it to dock. Federico Scoppa/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

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Federico Scoppa/AFP/Getty Images

African migrants sitting in a shelter at the Tariq Al-Matar migrant detention center on the outskirts of the Libyan capital, Tripoli, on Monday. Mahmud Turkia/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

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Mahmud Turkia/AFP/Getty Images

Secretary of State John Kerry gestures Sunday during a news conference at Villa Borsig, Berlin, with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier about the ongoing crisis in Syria. Evan Vucci/AP hide caption

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Evan Vucci/AP

Syrian refugee woman cries by one of her children as she and family members arrive in an overcrowded dinghy on the Greek island of Lesbos after crossing a part of the Aegean Sea from the Turkish coast, on Saturday. Yannis Behrakis/Reuters/Landov hide caption

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Yannis Behrakis/Reuters/Landov

A vonlunteer hands over care bags to refugees at the Central Registration Office for Asylum Seekers in Berlin Monday. The numbers of migrants have spiked since Sept. 4, when Austria and Germany threw open their borders and eased travel restrictions to allow in thousands who had made it to Hungary, which has balked at the influx. Tobias Schwarz/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

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Tobias Schwarz/AFP/Getty Images

Abdullah Kurdi, holds the body of his 3-year-old son, Aylan Kurdi, during the burial of the boy, his brother Friday and his mother at a funeral in Kobane, Syria. Dicle News Agency/EPA/Landov hide caption

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Dicle News Agency/EPA/Landov

For Family Of Drowned Syrian Boy, 'There Was No Other Hope,' Uncle Says

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Migrants on a dinghy head to the Greek island of Lesvos last Thursday. Some 48,000 migrants have landed on Greek shores so far this year, with about half coming to Lesvos, a popular vacation spot for European tourists. Some islanders and tourists are assisting the migrants, many of whom are camping in the open. Louisa Gouliamaki/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

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Louisa Gouliamaki/AFP/Getty Images

On A Greek Island, Vacationers Lend A Hand To Migrants

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Some 800 migrants from the Middle East arrive at the Greek port of Piraeus on Sunday. Smugglers are charging thousands of dollars to take migrants across the Mediterranean, and prices can vary widely. Children are often allowed to travel for free. Anadolu Agency/Getty Images hide caption

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Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

An ancient city at the mouth of the Mediterranean, Ceuta marks its 600th anniversary this year as a European territory. But changing demographics have some people wondering whether the Spanish territory in North Africa should return to local African rule. Here, rooftops in a poor Muslim neighborhood in the city. Lauren Frayer for NPR hide caption

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Lauren Frayer for NPR

A Foot In Africa, A Foot In Europe: Divide Grows Wider In Ceuta

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Migrants arriving at the Lampedusa island harbor aboard an Italian Coast Guard ship early Sunday. Ships rescued 3,690 migrants in just one day from smugglers' boats on the Mediterranean Sea off the Libyan coast, the Italian Coast Guard says. Mauro Buccarello/AP hide caption

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Mauro Buccarello/AP