Switzerland blocks migrants wanting to pass-through from Italian border

COMO, Italy — Hayat Omer and her husband fled the dictatorial regime of their native Ethiopia this spring and now live in a tent here in a park, just 5 miles from the Swiss border and a stone’s throw from actor George Clooney’s lakeside mansion.

Omer, 19, her husband Abdi Washa, 20, are stuck in this northern Italian city as they dream of settling in Europe. Several hundred other African migrants also set up a makeshift camp in the park and on the sidewalks around Como’s railway station.

They are waiting to be allowed to cross the border into Switzerland, and from there continue on to Germany and other European nations.

“We’ve never before had so many people camping out here,” Roberto Bernasconi, director of the charity group Caritas, said about the hundreds of refugees stranded in Como.

The young married couple made their way to the Como park after an arduous trek through Sudan and Libya by bus and on foot, and then they caught a boat across the Mediterranean Sea. Other migrants here also came in boats and dinghies organized by Libyan smugglers.

Sami Tsegay, 18, has been in Como since July, after leaving his home in Eritrea, a country torn by an armed conflict with Ethiopia. He spends his days and nights on piled blankets near the train station, waiting for the chance to leave.

“I want to join my brother in Germany, but the situation is hopeless,” he said through an interpreter.

Since the Balkan route to northern Europe closed in March, and with Austria and France imposing tight controls along their borders, Switzerland is now the preferred transit corridor for migrants bound for countries within the European Union.

But Switzerland has also increased security along its border with Italy, deploying helicopters and a drone over the region to keep out illegal immigrants.

Nearly all the Como migrants have tried — and failed — to cross the Swiss border, the couple said. Omer and her husband attempted three times, boarding a train bound for Lugano, a city in southern Switzerland.

Each time, their journey lasted just minutes, until Swiss border guards pulled them off the train and sent them back to Italy. A number of the Como migrants were then transferred by Italian authorities to refugee camps in other cities.

Some are so desperate, they walk along busy highways or hike on remote mountain trails to reach Switzerland. And one migrant even tried to sneak into the country crammed into a suitcase, before being intercepted at the border when guards became suspicious of the shape and the weight of the bag, according to local media reports.

In July alone, 3,560 migrants were intercepted at Switzerland’s southern border and sent back to Italy, according to the Swiss Federal Customs Administration.

“The Swiss are being very difficult. You’d think they fear an invasion,” said Giusto della Valle, a priest in Como who provides food and shelter in his church to refugee families.

Switzerland says blocking migrants from traveling through the country is a matter of international law. An EU legislation called the Dublin regulation states that the country where asylum seekers first enter — in this case Italy — is responsible for registering them.

Many migrants, including those in Como, skirt those rules, preferring to stay under the radar instead of registering in Italy and possibly having to stay there. In such cases, Switzerland sends the migrants back to Italy for proper processing.

“Those who enter the country illegally are not considered as having refugee status,” but all legitimate requests for asylum are considered, Switzerland's State Secretariat for Migration said on its website.

From May through Sept. 9, Switzerland accepted 72 refugees from Italy, with the government planning to take in a total of 600 from Italy by the end of the year, the migration agency said.

In all of 2015, Switzerland granted 6,377 asylum requests, mostly from refugees from Eritrea, Afghanistan and Syria, according to the agency. And in the first six months of this year, 3,252 were accepted, giving Switzerland one of the highest per capita rates in Europe for accepting refugees, according to the EU.

While legitimate asylum seekers can stay, Swiss authorities said the country can’t become a transit route to northern Europe.

Even though Switzerland's government takes a tough stance toward Como migrants, the country's population “has shown a lot of generosity,” said Swiss volunteer Claire Fischer Torricelli. She said many volunteers cross the border to bring clothes, food and other supplies to migrants here.

Living conditions for those in limbo might improve later this month when a new emergency shelter for 300 people will open in Como.

Porto Masse, 18, who came here from Sudan, said he will not be moving into the shelter.

“I have to be right here at the train station," he said, "so I can go to Switzerland at any moment.”