I sat yesterday and watched a news segment from France-24 (an English-language network run by the French government). The topic? Well, they sent a journalist down to Switzerland to examine the asylum network working there.
The segment story was about this Swiss town right across the border from Italy....in the Alps. Italian and Swiss cops patrol the buses and railways, along the roads as well....to prevent migrants from moving Italy, through Switzerland, to Germany.
There's this Swiss law which basically forbids private Swiss folks from getting involved in the 'process'. A year in prison is the threat.
Well, there's this network which has developed....all private Swiss citizens and their handy numbers are published somewhere. So, in this segment....four African guys are just across the border, in freezing cold temperatures in some mountain village. They call 'Joe' and he shows up five minutes later to pick them up and carry them to some 'care-home' to get warmed up. They will rest there til morning, and then someone will come by and pick them up.....carrying over to the next point. In three or four days, if everything goes well....they cross the border into Germany, and they declare themselves.
I sat there....having been to the Alps in mid-winter myself and can vouch that this is about the last place that you'd want to be...in minimum clothing and gear, and trying to hike across some mountainous area.
Most of these asylum-seekers in Italy are told to just sit and wait in the camps. Weeks and months pass, with no real movement. A lot changed since 2015, and there's only a minimum amount of enthusiasm now in most European countries for more migrants. For the Germans, they are still in an 'accept-mode' but they are fearful of some half-a-million year like 2014 or 2015.
Fear of police? Well, if you get caught as a asylum hiker in Switzerland.....they will bundle you up and you go back to Italy.
Where this leads onto? Come spring, I suspect several thousand will attempt to make this crossing. And it'll become some daily discussion topic.
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