european refugee crisis

Exploring the personal experiences of Sara Mardini and Seán Binder, two volunteers who were arrested in February 2018 after helping migrants cross safely into Lesbos, Greece, the journalist Alex W. Palmer outlines the complex situation aid workers in Europe find themselves in: increasingly demonized by local authorities while also facing pressure from different ends of the international political spectrum.

Palmer traces the origins of the problem, explaining how, in the early days of the migrant crisis, the grass-roots response embodied the broadly held values of E.U. citizens: to be a place of refuge and compassion, to create a new future from the ashes of two world wars and to set an example based on morality rather than power.

But, as Palmer discovers, this idea was never unanimous, and it was only a matter of time before this compassion and idealism was eclipsed by anger and resentment. Many rejected the idea of newcomers entirely. Terrorist attacks and acts of criminality committed by asylum seekers further worsened collective sentiments and heightened public unease about the challenges of integration. The topic became a pawn for far-right media outlets and politicians, who helped stoke the growing anti-immigrant temper, portraying Europe as on the brink of being overrun by foreign hordes — and aid workers as part of the problem.

A highly politicized issue, the debate surrounding the migrant crisis continues to rage. As volunteers are targeted, what’s next for migrant aid in Europe?

This story was written by Alex W. Palmer and recorded by Audm. To hear more audio stories from publications like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android.

Since the beginning of Russia’s war in Ukraine, 10 million Ukrainians — about a quarter of the population — have been displaced, and about four million have fled the country.

Iryna Baramidze is one of them. From a middle-class neighborhood of Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, she has been married to her husband for 12 years and has an 11 year-old son, Yuri.

Over three weeks, our producer Clare Toeniskoetter followed Iryna as she made an impossible choice.

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Background reading: 

• After meeting with Ukrainian refugees in Poland last week, President Biden called Vladimir Putin “a butcher.”
• As Ukrainians flood into Poland, the travel industry has become part of an effort to supply transportation, accommodation and more to the refugees.

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For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

Over the past year, a record 2,000 migrants from Africa have drowned trying to reach Spain.

Many of these migrants make the journey in rickety vessels, not much bigger than canoes, that often don’t stand up to strong currents.

What happens, then, when their bodies wash ashore?

This is the story of Martín Zamora, a 61-year-old father of seven, who has committed himself to returning the bodies of drowned migrants to their families. 

Guest: Nicholas Casey, the Madrid bureau chief for The New York Times. 

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Background reading: 

• Martín Zamora, the owner of a funeral parlor near Gibraltar, has found an unusual line of business among the relatives of migrants who drown trying to reach Europe: He collects the bodies of those who don’t make it to Spain alive. Read this article in Spanish here.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.