Original subtitles

So we're just sitting here on the Turkish coast, it's about, its about four a.m.

and....

the traffickers have been notified that we're with the migrants, and they're NOT happy.

There's a group of angry men pointing at us right now, that are with the migrants. We've been

informed that there's a couple of traffickers hidden amongst the group, to kind of advise them, and talk to the boat, and

they want to get rid of us quick.

So.... our security are telling us we gotta get out of here.

But up the road the Gendarme, the Turkish police, have been patrolling back and forth

we've had helicopters been going above and....

we're scared that if we head back that way we might be intercepted by the police instead.

So we're....we're dealing with human traffickers, or Turkish police....it seems like it's gonna be a long night.

Europe is a continent in crisis. In fact Europe is a continent in the midst of several crises.

From questions about its conscience, its political ideas, its humanitarian

responsibilities to the rest of the world. How, or if at all, it is going to enforce its borders, and the massive

demographic changes that it is facing.

These are some of the most dramatic changes Europe has ever faced.

But this change has been a long time coming. The Tunisian revolt of 2010 put an end to

President Ben Ali's 23 years in power, and led to a thorough

democratization of the country. The uprising sparked the so-called Arab Spring,

which worked its way across North Africa and the Middle East over the next five years.

Dictators like Gaddafi in Libya,

or Egypt's Mubarak, were violently thrown out of office, and a slew of other

uprisings made their way to places like Syria,

erupting in bloody civil war. The chaos in places just

kilometers away from Europe's borders would soon reach its shores.

By 2015, over a quarter of Syria's population

had found themselves displaced, with refugees making their way to nearby countries like Lebanon, Turkey, and Jordan.

Continuing instability soon made Libya a crossing point for refugees looking to make their way

illegally into the European Union.

So far

the mainstream conversation has been dominated by talk of refugees drowning in the Mediterranean,

and questions of what is our

humanitarian responsibility to people fleeing war and persecution.

But alongside this there has been a second conversation. One asking questions

about the women who are

raped en masse in Cologne, or of cultural compatibility, and religious compatibility.

Just how many people can Europe handle?

There are so many opinions on this issue from all different political perspectives,

but we really wanted to take a look at this without the lens of politics.

Just how many people are coming into Europe? Where are they coming from?

Who are they, and what has been Europe's response?

How many of these people are economic migrants, and what actually happens to them once they arrive on the shores?

Turkey saw more than 60% of all Syrian refugee arrivals

to their country. More than 3.5 million people. And at the height of the crisis in

2015, the pathway between Turkey and Greece saw more crossings than any other route into Europe.

So we'll need to draw a line back from Europe, all the way

to Turkey, and begin our journey there.

So right now we are in Ayvalik turkey, and the reason we're in Turkey is because this is where

the migrants coming from all over the Middle East take their first step into Europe. Whether it be the

islands off the coast of Greece, or Bulgaria,

this is where it is all happening, where the traffickers are collecting the money and sending them off on the boats,

sneaking them into trucks and across the border. Where all of this begins.

At about 3, 4, 5 a.m.

boats leave from these shores in Ayvalik to Lesvos, and we're gonna see if we can track down

where they're leaving from, see if we can find the migrants, film the boats, and maybe even

film the traffickers themselves.

That's our goal here in Turkey, to catch

what is going on, who are the people going across, and who is facilitating these illegal crossings?

So we've just arrived, we've been doing a little bit of investigating....talking to locals, trying to find out

where the traffickers are going, where they're taking off from, which routes the migrants take, and....

all of our investigation has led us to this spot here. It's a beach right across the water from Lesbos Greece, and we've been told

....around....up to hundreds of migrants come through this route every week at some points,

and....we thought maybe if we stay here, at the times they come through, around four or five a.m.

we'd run across some, and we could film them, and even talk to them.

Yeah, this must be one of the spots that they start.

We've got life jackets here.

Some gloves. Got a tube.

All sorts of equipment on this side of the fence. They must hide back here until late,

bring the boat over, get people on, and then send them out.

That's crazy.

See if there's anything else.

I'm a little nervous going in there. You want to come with?

Blankets, sweaters....

Yeah, here's someone's sweater.

Cigarettes....everything. Backpacks.

We're gonna have to turn off these lights pretty quick here, and be super quiet, because we dont want

to get discovered by the traffickers, or the migrants, and scare them off, because we want to see

what it's like on the ground for these people coming into Europe.

So it's coming on 6 a.m. here. We stayed up all night

scouting things out, and... I mean, the beach is littered with evidence of these migrants, but...

we didn't come across any people, and that's what we're looking for.

So, we're probably gonna wrap things up before it gets light out, and we all need some sleep, because tomorrow night it's gonna be another

all-nighter looking for these traffickers and migrants.

It's 2 a.m.

I'm in a small little village in Turkey called Kudu Oba, right across the water from

Greece, and I'm here to speak to an olive farmer.

Apparently his land has become a direct passage for the

influx of people to Europe, and....I want to find out more, ask him some questions

about what is going on here, in this tiny little Turkish coastal town.

It's very nice to meet you. Thank you so much for having me here.

My great grandfather farmed here, along with the four generations after him.

We grew crops.

Mainly olives. We tend animals. Its farming, it's what we do.

The villagers here are busy every day.

Everybody works. This is what the village life has always been like here.

Before the crisis, the villagers would go to their fields alone, to tend their crops.

But not anymore.

Women especially.

They can't go out anywhere alone now. They have to be escorted,

even on their own farms.

It all started in 2013,

started slowly, with a few migrants passing here and there, but now....

thousands pass every day.

This village is on the coast, where they launch the boats at the dead of the night,

so.... it's where they wait....

Then the crime started, and it got worse and worse. The traffickers starting killing people they had arguments with,

including the migrants.

No one in the village could go to their own fields to pick olives. The traffickers had taken over the land, and it got worse.

They turned up at my farm, pulled a gun on me, and told me they wanted the deed.

They were acting like the Mafia.

These people are dangerous.

If you are filming here, you need to be careful. The traffickers disguise themselves as migrants.

We are all frightened here now.

I'm 55 years old, and now I have to carry a gun just to tend my field and animals.

There are 20 more villages just like ours along this stretch of the coast.

I would say....

one million people have passed through just along this coastline.

So I have just finished speaking with the local olive farmer, here on the coast of Turkey, and

honestly.... I'm

completely shocked by what he had to say.

I don't think we consider often, that....

there is a Turkish perspective to this migrant crisis, and it's not quite what people think it is.

They also feel that their homeland is being affected by this, and not in a good way. And they're also confused by this

open border policy,

going on in Europe and their own country. That's something that I've never heard of.

We kind of just get told that it's this racist European opinion, that people can't come in, and they can't assimilate.

But the Turkish people also recognize that they have a different culture to different Middle Eastern countries as well,

and there's a clash going on, and a crisis going on here, right at the beginning

right before these people come into Europe. So that was just fascinating. And this farmer told me that tonight

there will be migrants almost certainly

trying to cross the water over to Greece.

So right now we're trying to be really quiet, we are hiding

down a little road. It's one of the paths that the migrants and traffickers usually take

to get to the water at about 4 or 5 a.m., and then take their little boats to Greece.

So....yeah....gunna lay low and....hope that we

run into some migrants, so we can ask them about their journey.

So it's night number three of pulling an all-nighter,

searching for these migrants, and I'm actually a lot more hopeful that we're going to run into some people tonight, because we've changed

locations and we're in a far more high-traffic area, but after getting that information from locals, we also found out that

these aren't just

traffickers, like these people are armed, like they've come up to people's doors with

Ak-47's so....as much as I'm excited to potentially run into these people,

I don't know what's going to happen if we actually find them.

Are the doors locked? He has a weapon. Oh my god....

[Car beeping sound] Holy shit. Are they refugees? Look over there. Get away from the door. [van door sliding sound]

The guy in charge is not with them.

He just gave them a pathway, told them " keep walking, and I'll show up with the boat", and they're unsure.... if he'll be there or not

How much you pay? 1000 dollars. Oh, 1000, they pay 1000 dollars.

Each person? Each person.

And then they'll take you to ah....Lesvos? Yes Lesvos.

And why? Why do you want to go to Lesvos?

Because in Afganistan we have all the time war.

We dont have economy....

and we dont have any money.

We dont have any money in Afganistan.

Why not stay in Turkey?

Because we dont have anything. Family....

No ID, nothing here.

I dont have my family in Turkey. I dont have anyone in Turkey.

Oh, is your family in Europe?

Yeah.

What have you heard about Sweden?

Its the best country. I want to go.

So right now I'm standing on a beach with a bunch of migrants or refugees,

and they're all trying to cross to Moria, but....there have been Gendarme all across the roads,

arresting people, stopping them from going over, so....

we're not even sure if the boat is going to show up. They've come down here to the shores, and have no idea

where the boat is. They've all paid thousands of Euro to make this journey, and it's uncertain

whether there really will be a ship arriving at this point, and they keep....in fact, the've mistaken us for their guides.

We're just waiting here. We're not sure how long we should stay,

because there's a ......, a boat, going back and forth here,

and we don't want to get arrested with everyone if that happens, because, all our footage will be taken away.

So we're gonna lay low, be quiet and see if a boat arrives,

But we gotta get out of here soon.

So we're just leaving the ah....

the pickup spot, because we don't think there's a boat coming today.

There's a bunch of people waiting down there. They kind of split up. They were all confused as to whether

the traffickers were coming or not,

and there were a lot of Gendarme, Turkish police around tonight,

and, we think the traffickers may have even had a scout out that saw our car and thought

our car may have been one of the police, so the boat decided not to show up.

It could still be showing up right now, we're uncertain, but, we decided to get out of there before....

the lights came up, because, we're either stuck between police, and a bunch of angry migrants that didn't get a boat.

So we're gonna try to get out of here,

get safe in the car, drive away, and then

assess the situation, and see what happened. Just....we do not want to get arrested today, and we don't want

migrants angry because their traffickers didn't show up.

After talking to the group, some of whom were refugees,

some of whom were not, I was surprised to find out that many of them had not

been actively looking for passage to Greece, and that many of the mostly Afghan migrants had in fact been approached

beforehand by the smugglers.

Hey, I haven't heard from you in like a week,

we were getting a little worried there, you guys okay in Morocco? What's going on?

We've managed to get ourselves an interview, a front line interview, with one of the guys who actually

traffic's people, so places them in a boat, puts them on a boat to Spain, and pretty hard to get the interview,

but he's agreed to do a video interview for us. There's a couple of issues here in Morocco, though,

I'm sure you're....you're aware, but, um, filming is really restrictive legally here. It's pretty crazy. There's checkpoints everywhere.

So bring the bare essentials that you can to get this done, um, break the cameras down.

There are some real ramifications if we do get caught....um....

There has been journalist's jailed here, and I need to jump on this quickly....in the next couple of days

Ok, so we're here in the mountains of Nador, a little

town on the coast of Morocco, right across from Spain, where tons of migrants from Sub-Saharan Africa are

just sitting here waiting for their chance to get on a little dinghy raft to go over to Spain, and....it's been hours,

we've been waiting all day....and,

our guy hasn't shown up. He's nowhere to be found. He's sending us really brief messages,

yes/no, back and forth. He's super nervous about talking to us, but....

I'm just gonna kind of

hold out here and see, because if we could talk to him and really figure out what's going on here, that would be huge.

So it's getting dark soon. We're probably going to have to interview him

in the dark if he does show up.

My name is ******. I am Senegalese. I'm 20 years old.

I spent eight months here.

How do people get to Spain?

People have to get...have to spend a lot of money here.

They have to spend 2000 Euro.

Wow. From Tangier? Yeah Yeah

What is not guaranteed, when you enter in Spain, you are lucky, when you don't enter, you are lost the money, you try again

to have another money to go.

So you can pay more for a guarantee?

Yeah, where the guarantee have one but. Everybody, everybody, 2500 Euro, 2500 you have,

when, when the boat enter, the boss have a lot of money.

How many people are sent over to Spain from here in a week or a month?

One day....one, one day you can have 500....500 person

or one day you can have 5....500 person, but the most we can have 2000.

Why dont people legally apply?

Why don't people?

Try to go in legally?

Because of.... you know, in our country is so difficult to have a visa.

So difficult to have a visa.

When....when you have money to give the government....

Is it OK?

It's just that car....just watch that....

It's stopping....

It's coming here....

So.....

So our guy ****** has just, just run off,

we just had a local farmer pull up, and the car coming out into this field with the light on....

thought it was a sting operation I guess. They're so worried that we're working with the cops, or trying to set them up,

we're trying to get them arrested and he just

sprinted into the woods, and he's got our Lav mic, he's

gone. There's a good chance he's not gonna come back. He's gonna think that this is all a setup.

We're gonna lose and burn all of our contacts in this area.

So he actually came back, which is awesome, and he brought the Lav, so it looks like we haven't totally burned our contacts there.

It's all business. The....I mean, we're not talking about refugees here, refugees can't afford to pay these 2000, 3000,

4000 Euros, to get over to Spain. People who are dirt poor,

trying to escape their country, these kids who are living on the street just....

starving to death in Sub-Saharan Africa, they're not the ones getting on these boats. They cant afford that.

We're not talking about the poorest of the poor. The people who actually

desperately need to come to Europe,

they're never gonna get to set foot there. They're never gonna get to come over. They can't afford these prices.

That's what's so freakin sad about it. It doesn't seem like any of this....until you get....

I Guess....until you get to the last leg of the journey where you've got these NGO boats,

none of this is for humanitarian aid,

and....I mean you've got tons of Canadians, tons of Americans, tons of Europeans, donating

millions of dollars for these NGOs to go into the water and save these people because they think they're Syrian refugees,

they think they're poor people escaping corrupt governments that are oppressing them,

and all it is is they're just the last leg in a giant human trafficking operation, making these people in Morocco

millions and millions and millions of dollars, and the people they're helping are not

who they think they are.

It's really sad, it's really really freaking sad.

It's easy to underestimate the scale of the operation in Morocco,

but when you add up the figures

it becomes clear that these numbers add up to more than a hundred thousand Euros per boat, and

millions of euros every week.

One route that is particularly interesting are these two Spanish enclaves nestled on the coast of Morocco.

Ceuta and Melilla.

Every day thousands of legal workers make their way back and forth across what is becoming known as

Europe's most fortified borders.

It is increasingly becoming one of the largest crossing points in 2018,

with thousands making their way to the enclaves, and then into the EU Schengen zone.

So right now I'm standing in a small little Spanish enclave on the tip of Morocco called

Melilla, and right across this border is

Morocco, and in recent months this has become a new hub for illegal migration, with people

desperately trying to get over this fence

into Spain, so they can make their way

through Europe. And we're about to head to the other side of this fence to go and investigate just how they do it.

Just kilometres away from the fence we trekked into the mountains to

investigate some of the locations migrants were setting up camps in preparation to make the crossing.

I was here since 2017.

I decided to leave Gambia to go to foreign, so I can

have a more professional career, be more professional in football. That's why I leave Gambia.

Do you have any guess of how many people in total are here today?

Well in all of these I can see 200 people. You can find 200 people in one camp.

In one camp?

Yes.

And there's camps scattered everywhere?

Yeah, yeah.

And have you tried to go before?

For sure I have tried, I have tried a lot of times. I have tried, but still now....

When you cross you never come back. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Any boat that cross to Spain never come back, yeah.

If they see us with this passport they will, they will deport them.

Oh, they destroy them? So rip out the pages?

And you're saying you want to go to London yes?

Sure. That's my favorite country.

While in the camp, we met the leader of the group whose job

it was to take the money,

find food for the migrants, and was the link between those hoping to storm the border, and the head of the smuggling syndicate in

Morocco.

This is a place people wait before they cross the fence to get to Ceuta which is European soil.

It's where everyone wants to go. Once you land, you never come back.

Our men here leave their wives at home and wait here to cross. One day they hope to bring their wives.

I'm doing this because I know the system here better than anyone, and I want to help these people cross. So they're right,

their lives here are not good.

We are all created equal people. Borders should not be in place like this.

There are two ways you can come. One is by boat, and the other is on the fence.

Here we jump the fence.

Once every month. We all pick a date, then we all get together, and any weapons we can, and storm the fence.

This takes a long time to plan, and not all of us make it. In fact most don't make it.

I hear a lot of people say once they make it they regret the trip, and Europe doesn't turn out how they want it to.

Our next jump is coming up soon.

Trouble has broken out of the border of a Spanish enclave in Morocco, where hundreds of African migrants

attempted to storm the coastal city of Ceuta in their efforts to reach Europe.

The resulting clashes saw police officers attacked with acid.

So we need to talk about Moria.

It's one of the single issues in this crisis to receive almost more attention than anything.

It's this small little refugee camp about a 15 minute drive

inland on the Greek island of Lesvos, and this small camp has processed and received

hundreds of thousands of Europe's refugee asylum applications.

It's a processing facility that's designed for about two and a half

thousand people but realistically holds around

10,000 in small tents surrounding the actual facility and

the news reports that are coming out of this place are

horrifying. We've heard

reports about starvation,

murder,

theft, the rape of women and children in these tents at night, and even that this

facility is being used to filter

ISIS into Europe. So there's no doubt that this is a place we are going to need to visit,

while on our trip.

The camp is completely full.

Oh inside is completely full? How many people?

Here on the Moria, just ah, I think, ah, nearly 11,000 people.

11,000? Wow.

How many people come per day?

He says it depends, some days come 300 people. Some days 100. Some 150. No security from here, from there.

No security from there to there?

Nothing.

Is it quite dangerous?

It's quite dangerous. No security. Sometimes you're....

they become fighting between the....refugees.

Mmmm

Because theres no security.

Moria no good....no good Moria, no good.

Greece no good?

Cannot compare between Moria and Yemen, you know.

There is war and there is....also had....eh.... problems and not safe here. This place is not safe.

We escaped from....ahh....our country because there is not safe, and we came here, not safe also.

Mmmm

So no difference. No difference.

Is it dangerous here?

Yes. Its dangerous.

Why? What is....what's dangerous about it?

Fights. Fights every day.

Lots of fighting? Yeah.

Do you regret leaving Afghanistan?

Yeah.

Yeah?

Yeah, yeah. You wish you stayed in Iraq? No, should've stayed in Iraq.

Do you wish you stayed home?

Yeah, why not?

Did it cost you a lot to come here?

Yeah. 1200 Euro.

1200 Euro to come here from Turkey?

Yeah.

For me 500. Some people maybe 1000.

1000 euro?

It's a business. I think it's a business.

It's....the camp is a business?

Yeah.

When you're paying for a smuggler, you are crossing the borders,

almost you are 2000, 3000 dollars, you are paying for each person.

And where do you want to go to?

After here?

Yeah.

Maybe Belgium or Iceland

Belgium or Iceland?

These makes problems, you know, and eh at the night, maybe then....maybe some people come kill you while you are sleeping.

Has that happened before?

Yes it happened. Many people killed and eh hitted while they are sleeping.

Food. Food. Food line.

And are there fights?

Yeah, yeah.

Oh my god.

Everything. Everything.

We spoke to a senior doctor working with patients in the camp to understand its problems.

I've been here in in Mytilene for four months.

I'm mainly based with the clinic here, but I have been doing in....some session, you know....going over to Morea and....

and....ehh.... working in the camp there a little bit. You know Moria camp has 9000,

more than 9,000 now. We're having a hundred people arrive each day.

There was....on the 16th of September there were 324 arrivals to the island.

So there are small movements off the island, but actually that's only, you know....

It's not decongesting. That there are so many people in a camp that was originally designed for 3100.

So we need to get people, people who already....you know.... have been identified as being vulnerable

They need to be moved off the island to the mainland and that....so they can be looked after....you know there.

Thank you so much. That was fantastic.

It's a crazy situation.

It's tough. We spoke to a few of them who....oh I wish I could go home now, I regret coming.

It's difficult.

I mean at the clinic here, we see largely single men....and....

A lot of the people that we have spoken to have shown us stab wounds and stuff like that, and its just....

Yeah, yeah.

I think you put eight thousand people into a place and....and then....

You know, you are putting some ethnic groups together, but it's....its just the context.

So you put eight thousand people together and they don't know how long they're going to be there. They don't have any hope.

They....eh....they....you know....you're going to get violence, of course you're going to get violence. It's....it's....it's....

Yeah....eh....I'm sorry, but it's it's just a recipe for disaster.

While Doctors Without Borders were working to help many of the migrants suffering in the camp,

several residents made some alarming allegations about Greek government doctors working inside Moria.

How did they get you to Athens with a bribe?

How does it work?

There's is someone....a guide. You talk to him and he told us, if you want to take ID card, I can take you to the place OK.

He guide him to the Doctor, and make a paper for him,

and wait. In two weeks, one month, to get these papers of passage.

So after that he can pass.

So the Doctor's make the papers?

Yeah, yeah. He takes the bribery.

At the reception there is many people,

eh....told us to come to the Doctor.

You can sell this ID card....you can....sorry, buy ID card

Or you can....we can take you to the Doctor

he can do something good for you, to take official paper

to go....pass from here.

So is the official paper like a medical form?

Yeah, a medical form, yeah.

So he'll say you have....

You have a problem....you have cancer, you have something bad....you have a....a dangerous illness.

Like a cancer or something else. You have a problem in kidney, you have a problem in heart.

And then you have to move to Athens?

Yeah. You must be moved to Athens.

As troubling as a potential bribes-for-passage scandal is, what we heard next was deeply concerning.

When he get a fight, he get stabbed in his back. Five, five times. Wants kill me. ISIS.

Oh my gosh!

Fight, fight everywhere. You see this? Camera problem, we must put a camera. ISIS.

Afraid. If you want to protect people, put a camera at least.

I want to speak just to you, just me and you.

OK. How do you know its ISIS?

You can come to me and my tent. If you want.

Have you how do you know is ISIS?

Maybe 1000, 2000. Allah. 1000 ISIS.

We will come to your tent. You can tell us.

You said you know ISIS is operating in this camp?

Yes, they are here disguised as refugees.

They are here asking for refugee.

Why?

They fled Iraq and Syria. Because they are defeated in their countries.

So they are looking for refugees?

They are looking for a safe place. They are here. They can rape, they can kill, they can steal.

And they have....tell her that they are armed.

They have ......They have knives

And they're causing violence in the camp?

something about a weapon, not weapon....letter knife, something like a....razors

We have tried several times to make contact with the police, but they do not respond.

Before our time he got....he got hit in his head

Police tell him 'go Malacca, go, go bitch'.

They do not care about our life okay.

And they don't care that there are radicals in this camp?

Radicals yeah.

We told them to put a camera. We told them many times, to put a camera at least, to protect ourselves.

Okay, we are....we thank them. Okay, but we need a protection, a protection at least, protection.

We appreciate that....what they do, what they do. Food okay, they are providing food, but

we need the prot....The very important thing is the protection. Protection.

We did not come here only for food.

And drugs everywhere, and drugs everywhere. This a dangerous....this a virus, must be defeated.

There are you say something like eleven thousand people here. How many would you say are ISIS or criminals?

One thousand. Many of them.

One thousand?

His life is not safe here.

It's like the Greek government is helping the terrorists to eliminate us.

How do you stay safe?

Ha, we are....God protect us.

You just hope, you cross your fingers?

Yeah. God protect us.

If the government....if the government put a camera everywhere, they will discover everything, they will find out everything.

Just a camera.

The press can help us. They take videos and photos, but its not enough.

He said....Many....many....many of you came here. They didn't send the message completely.

My life has been in danger since the day I arrived here. I havent had one good nights sleep.

He is Atheist. He doesnt believe in any religion. His life in the danger.

Because you are Atheist?

Yes.

As he says....

Is the majority of the camp religious?

Yeah. Majority is the Islamic, but he is scared the from the ISIS.

He is scared from the radical Islam, Islamic?

The ISIS.

When they see me outside, or here in my tent, they find and attack me.

Many people attack him, and are using a knife against him.

Because he is Atheist?

Yeah. Because he is Atheist, as he says.

And if you are....alright....do other Atheists or Christians get attacked in the camp?

Not only Atheists. Christians as well.

Also Christian? Yeah. Also Christian. Jew?

They also attack other minorities like Yazidis and Kurds.

Yazidi and Kurd?....and Kurd. They killed four Kurds recently in another camp.

There was a video of it going around.

There were four people from the....eh....Kurdish

have been killed.

The Kurdish people?

The Kurdish. As he said.

One thing I think

that is really important to understand, is exactly how these asylum applications work.

So in Greece, for example, they have the UNHCR E.A.S.O.

or European Asylum Support Office. And they are there in the camps doing interviews with these migrants asking them questions to determine

who they are. Are they economic migrants? Are they potential criminals? Or are they actual refugees fleeing war and persecution?

Now one thing we know is that

from 2015 to 2016

80% of all Syrian National's asylum applications into Europe were accepted,

with 40% of all other countries being accepted into Europe. Only about 3%

were rejected during this time frame, with the rest being delayed until next year. We know that in 2017

Germany accepted the most out of any other country in Europe. That being

261,000 asylum applications, not including those who illegally entered.

Now many of these people came through Lesbos.

So we want to know just how many of these people are still coming in. Who are they?

And in 2018, is this process still working the way it was initially supposed to.

Ariel Ricker welcomes an asylum seeker to a legal consultation.

The Hawaiian born lawyer abandoned her practice a year ago, to set up

Advocates Abroad, a group that offers legal aid to those seeking international

protection. Ricker herself took on Lesvos, ground zero in this great experiment, out of concern for American human rights standards.

America is a land of migrants,

and there's an anger I think, about how, how this election turned out.

We sent a producer to meet Ariel in Scala, a tiny fishing village in the north of the island

That was home to several NGOs, and hundreds of aid workers and volunteers.

In the Goji cafe, a hub for volunteers, he recorded this meeting.

I tell them that this is um acting, all of this is acting.

They are all acting as if this is theatre. So for them to get through they must act their part in the theatre,

and that is a refugee in trauma. Because these [immigration] officers are so fucking stupid, that....

all they know is what is written on the paper....EASO says this is a refugee in trauma.

They have these characteristics, so we coach people how to have these characteristics.

So with the first role playing activity, it's like us....um....being....um....them, and they're the officer.

Then we poke around after they've had some practice to see how should I walk into the office?

How should I introduce myself? How should I give them the folder?

And then how do I sit down? And then when do I stand up?

When do I show them how to pray.

Why would you need to show them how to pray?

Well....'cause it's a good....it's a good way to show....um....honesty. It's done in other places too.

Like not good places. To see if you are truly what you say you are.

If you cant show how you pray....

If you are actually a Christian?

Mmmm.

Oh, as if you're saying it like saying, you're fleeing persecution....

Then you should probably know how to....you know....pray that way.

They also ask like..what's your favorite holiday?

Some people just say like....Christmas, ahh but like....we explain you can't just say this....

because it's not a sufficient answer.

You have to say.....um....and you have to say it in a certain way like

December twenty fifth, Christmas is the birthday of our Lord and Saviour.

There is a formula, which is ironic because I suck at formula's.

But it's like significant event, date and location.

So the way you answer all their questions is the same way.

Um....in December 2017....

in Izmir Turkey I was threatened for being a Christian because my boss and his friends jumped me when I was leaving my church

This is my Bible they tried to tear up. This is the crucifix I was wearing that they tried to tear....

and it made me feel unsafe as a Christian Turkey. Ba boom!

Did you have it....have all the elements there?

Like our narrative timeline format....like has a little fill in the blank section at this point, and then....

Now a video has been released allegedly showing the executive director of a major NGO which provides help to migrants

discussing how she teaches refugees to lie to border guards.

This video that's been doing the rounds online um....

is part of a larger investigation project. The clip allegedly shows

Ariel Ricker, who's the executive director of the legal aid NGO

Advocates Abroad. In this video clip she seems to be

telling the undercover crew who were filming her against her knowledge, that she coaches

refugees and migrants on how they should....

how they should speak to border police. They've also since

deleted their online social media presence,

their Twitter account has gone, and their Facebook account has gone as well.

These recordings highlight the worrying attitudes of NGO's

towards the very idea of borders. In the car on the way to another part of the island

Ariel confirmed not just the existence of smugglers inside Europe,

but revealed the level of support for their actions among volunteers and aid workers.

Smugglers....actually there's various classes of smugglers in my mind....um

there's angels, they are very rare but there are two hero angels that I love.

There the jet ski heros.

And like this....I don't know what to actually call it, I dont know actually who they are

But they both have been arrested....like on and off

Like the jet ski hero of Izmir was just arrested actually here in Lesvos the other day

so his deal is basically, he doesn't charge except for what the petrol costs to get off Turkey to here.

With a....on a jet ski. Then he takes them on his own jet ski personally, he drives them from Izmir to here

and drops them off. And then he skirts off into the night on his little jet ski.

Oh I love him so much.

and he's done it like thousands of times

so he's taken thousands and thousands of people.

George, you there?

Hey, yeah I've a....

interesting rumour....ah....

apparently there's going to be a passenger ship docking in Lesvos this morning with the leader of E.R.C.I. on it,

this Panos Moraitis guy.

Yeah, he's the one....that's uh....like hiding from police for the last little bit

Apparently, he's gonna be on this boat....um....so I think if we, if we can find a way on the boat

we can get an interview with him. He's been in the news

because of these allegations of people trafficking,

and....you know....

from what I'm hearing, he's been making a fuck-ton of money

when his organisation is supposed to be rescuing refugees

in the sea around Lesvos.

I'd be shocked, you know this....we know there's a big business going on to the other side now....

but if it extends all the way to Europe that's....

Exactly. Exactly what we've been talking about. These European NGOs making big bucks off this crisis. So....

Yeah.

Lets do it.

Could you just briefly tell me what the charges are?

Ahhh. Quite grave actually. Ahhh,

espionage, ahhh,

getting access to state secrets,

facilitating smuggling and human trafficking.

Money laundering.

Forgery, and breach of the telecommunications code.

And how many....how many people have you helped, in the crisis?

At sea. More than 55,000 people.

A lot of media are saying that you are a human trafficker.

I just wanted a very direct response to....

We have never facilitated human trafficking. We have never assisted any smuggler. We're quite against it

We're here to save lives and nothing more.

They said that....err....we were actually money....money laundering

unknown sums of money

and the press in Greece said like five hundred million

and in reality it was 500,000 Euro

which if you engage with NGOs, you know, it's a small amount of money actually

for three years.

uh....we were....we were laundering it.

So I've just gone back to watch some of the footage

of the interview we did with

Panos the head of E.R.C.I., and I'm listening to the undercover recording we have now.

Panos denied all of these allegations to the police and publicly. He said they were partaking in

no money laundering at all, and I'm pretty sure I just heard his lawyers say to us on tape

they laundered half a million dollars.

I'm....

I'm just also really alarmed here that

his lawyers telling us that laundering half a million dollars is nothing compared to what other NGOs do. I....

I don't...I dont even believe what I'm

listening to right now....um....

I don't know....is this....is this a one-off thing?

We....we have a lot more investigating to do on this island. That's for sure.

Given the huge numbers of people

entering Europe, and the authorities apparent inability to handle the scope of this crisis,

it is no wonder that we are seeing an increase in migration related crime,

with a wave of major terror attacks across Europe following the influx of millions of newcomers in

2015 and 2016, to an increase in rape, knife crime, and murder.

Trust in the European Union's ability to handle this crisis is at an all-time low.

At the European Parliament in Brussels, a small but growing number of MEP's are working to highlight not just the cultural cost,

but also the economic cost of the crisis at Europe's borders.

So what is migration costing Europe right now?

Our research is going to show it's somewhere in the region to a hundred and fifty billion euros,

to two hundred billion Euros a year,

for all the 27 European countries, and the European Union funding, together. This is not sustainable.

Merkel....

let in two million people. That has had a profound effect on the societies, and especially....

particularly the Nordic region's as well. In Denmark, Sweden,

Norway, that's not actually in the EU, but is part of the Schengen area as well. They've had a profound....that's had a profound effect.

For example Emmanuel Macron wants to continue the model of immigration

mostly from Maghreb and Sub-Saharan Africa.

This type of immigration has dramatic consequences,

very hefty social and economic consequences

France has six million unemployed people looking for work,

more than 9 million people below the poverty line,

and these are the consequences of immigration.

The migration Advisory Committee said that large-scale migration hasn't brought the huge economic benefits that that....that

the left of argued. Actually in some cases, and particularly now, it's provable, if you're poor across Europe

you've actually suffered, your wages have declined. You've become more cramped, more dense in the housing.

It's been more difficult to try and get into social services. Those have been accepted facts now.

And then there's billions spent on communications,

a migrant compact....um....it's just billions and billions and billions wasted,

where actually we could just be centering on the answers,

which is our answers, which....that the voters want, is that we stop the migration coming, and the fast tracking

of the migrants that are already here, and then to stop more coming. And it is by bilateral

negotiation, and not by....the E.U. .... the E.U. doesn't have the solution.

They are the problem. Of course the NGOs are aiding and abetting,

because the NGOs are ideologically opposed to us as well.

And ideologically, they are wedded to the fact that there should be a borderless Europe, and there should be a borderless world.

And so therefore they are aiding them.

You're seeing segregation in Swedish cities.

You're already beginning to see segregation in German cities.

It's well recognized that if you have large-scale migration rather than drip-feed migration that fits into the economic needs, that we have

You'll get segregation, separation, and also people starting to look at each other in a very negative way.

This is not the future for countries in Europe.

In some of Europe's often overlooked outlying countries

Militia groups have taken it upon themselves to bolster Europe's professional Border Security

Often patrolling the deep forests at the continents far flung borders.

You will be taking your assignments from two commanders.

Split into two teams.

Nine on the other side, and nine here.

Team one, scan the valley in two fours

Each of you scan the area around here.

Today we're covering a larger area, but must remain in sight of each other at all times.

Do you copy? If I go this way, you follow my lead.

Drop down into the valley and check if they have arrived.

They might come through this route,

Or the other side on the road to Primorsko.

They are here somewhere.

Did you hear something?

I'm not sure.

They are here alright.

Down in the valley.

It's dangerous. That's why it's better for her to stay here.

Sergeant do you copy?

Connection lost.

Connection lost with both teams.

These militias are well organized and intimidating. With mixed support from local and national authorities.

Many of the men carry only Airsoft weapons.

But to migrants detained in foreign territory, the effect is just as powerful.

I myself am a professional military man.

I graduated from military school,

but left many years ago.

Now I am a veteran.

I work in security and intelligence. Complex security services and global investigations.

My private work....business.

Some of the other men were in the military. Some weren't.

Many are Teachers, Historians, Professors or Doctors. Ordinary citizens.

They come to us and we train them

and they become part of the defence of the European border.

In the last year we have turned back

more than 90,000 people

but we do not return people who apply at the checkpoints.

We return only those who are

crossing through the forest without papers.

Because I think

if they are trying to sneak through the forest

its something only

either criminals or terrorists

or ISIS fighters would do.

The height of this movement of people was back in 2015 and 2016

So Europe has had over two years to watch the dust begin to settle

Where are these people now?

What are they doing? Did they get the lives that they dreamed of, that they were promised?

Are they just glad to be safe?

What about those who came for work?

Did they ever find what they were looking for?

I want to know whether all of this chaos and confusion

was ever worth it.

So we're just here in Paris, where tens of thousands of people are arriving

from across the Mediterranean. Many people think they are coming to a paradise when they arrive in a big European city like Paris

but in the other camps we found across Europe a common sentiment is that

it was not the paradise

they were expecting, and in many cases

their life was better back home. And we want to interview and talk to some of these migrants and see

how they feel living here in Paris now

especially where they're staying underneath bridges, where they're sleeping in tents on the streets, where they don't have a job

they aren't really integrating into society.

We want to try to understand what life is like for a migrant here in Paris in 2018

Okay

It's been six month since I arrived in Italy.

and now I'm in France.

I've got no work, I've got nothing.

That's my journey.

Even though I speak French

when we arrived in France

we couldn't find any work

we couldn't find anything

Mali?

I miss Mali very much.

from the first day I left

I took a huge risk crossing the sea from Libya

When I was in Mali

I never imagined Europe to be like this

especially France

I thought I would come here

find a job, find a house

send money back to my family

I had hope

I thought it would be hard, but not this hard.

It was a mistake, a big mistake.

All the Africans who cross the sea like I did

They're risking their lives.

If you've got no papers

if you've got no job.

It was a big mistake.

Unable to claim asylum, unable to go home

migrants and refugees alike have found themselves stuck between a rock and a hard place.

The truth is nobody wins in this situation. But what about other countries?

What happens when a refugee is granted asylum, or a migrant is accepted by the state?

Direct provision began in 2000 as a means of providing basic accommodation to asylum seekers while their applications were being processed

It's....I suppose in the news a lot more because there is a huge increase in the amount asylum seekers that are going to Ireland

As well as that one centre, 500 asylum seekers are also living in hotels and BnB's around the country, and many....and thousands more are living

in other integration centres around the country.

And this is the Grand Hotel in Wicklow, and what do people in some of the towns involved really think?

I think it's a disgrace.

I really do....like to me....you know, no hotel in the town.

They need a home too, but we have to look after our own first.

I'm Afraid. I am afraid. I'm on me own with two kids down here, and I'm having people that I don't know.

Adrian Shanna is the hotel owner and made the decision to close the hotel and

reopen it as a direct provision centre.

Quite simply, this was a decision taken for commercial reasons

where we took a view that we could stop those losses, or indeed..um..try and turn a profit.

In Ireland, small towns have found themselves at the center of a heated debate about migration

and what European nations owe to those seeking a better life.

We're kind of a forgotton town at the minute

for a county town there's probably....

other than a bit of craic, and a few pints

there's nothing much in the place.

It was misrepresented to the people of the town,

and that a lot of the migrants who are living in it, are not econ....they're economic migrants rather than

genuine..eh....people who are oppressed, or something of that nature.

I don't know whether that's really true or not, but that is a common....commonly held ..um....belief.

It wasn't a great thing to happen to the town.

Purely because we have no hotel

but....it's not the right place for these people,

they should be in lovely housing apartments where they can do their own cooking, cater for themselves

and just mind themselves. That's all they want to do.

Well I suppose its just....it's your home town.

You don't really want to....you just want to see people having fun, having craic, and a bit

of a laugh....but like we don't have choice in this it's up to the Councilors and all that

they're our voice, but

it just seem to go unnoticed....and like

for a hotel to go in the town

I just....I don't understand it.

Initially, I mean everybody got a fright

there's no doubt about it. We got a fright.

There was absolutely no notice, and all of a sudden the hotels gone, and we have 100 single men moving in.

No doubt about it, that there's a generally held belief in the town that we're not being looked after properly.

We weren't told....

and....and it was, it was absolutely disgraceful, but the County Council here, dont start me on it

They are, they're a law unto themselves, and I have to be very careful what I say, because they could sue me.

It just seems to have gone from bad to worse.

The amount of people that are becoming homeless at the moment is unbelievable.

It's heartbreaking to see people coming to you who've been....who are lovely people

and have nowhere to live, and they don't know what to do

and you....and you....you can't, you can't say listen I can get you a house. The rental market's gone sky-high.

The rents are sky-high around Wicklow. So it's....it's not reachable for people.

I think there's 4000 people on the housing list of Wicklow.

Obviously there's been a provisions centre thats opened up in Wicklow, and

a few of the people that we've spoken to have kind of expressed concerns over funding....

No. Not answering that. No. You dont want to? Not answering that. Not answering that.

OK. Is that just because....

No, I'm not answering....ehhhhhhhh....I'm not answering it. Can we just stop there for a minute.

Of course, of course.

I'm an investigative journalist based in Dublin and

most of my work has been

around investigating corruption within the institutions of the State in Ireland. In the past I would have written quite a lot on

the fate of refugees, and I'm talking about genuine refugees

and....to the point that I actually won a national campaigning award

for my work on the rights of asylum seekers.

So I have been very much, I suppose....um....

onside with with the plight, of course,

what journalist wouldn't be, of real refugees leaving war zones?

Because we now have a serious housing crisis in Ireland, and we've had it

effectively since the crash in 2008. We never had homelessness per se,

at least as far as I can remember.

I grew up in the 70s and 80s when we had a brutal recession, but I never remember people sleeping on our streets.

In the last few years, we've got this now in Ireland, and it's shocking and devastating to see

people in a first world, very wealthy country, being reduced to living in tents, etc.

So then when you start to study the statistics, you see that one in three

social housing units is going to a non-national. And then you start to look more closely and you see

that a lot of our resources in terms of healthcare, and education, are also being used by people

who are coming here, at a time when we are not able to look after our own people properly,

and to me, when I looked at the figures, I have a background in, I studied economics in University, and

when I looked at the figures I said, hang on a minute. What are we doing

inviting the world and its mother into Ireland, when we cannot look after our own people.

My name is Mankazana Tshuma. I came from Zimbabwe to Ireland to seek asylum.

I left Zimbabwe because of the political situation.

and because my life was in danger

with the police, so I had to leave the country.

We were protesting with other members

against our former president Gabriel Mugabe

and they thought it was unlawful that we do that.

My life was in danger, as well as

my son's life was in danger, and

it got to an extent, whereby my son even got

sexually abused, when he was two and half years old

so....

that's when I decided I had to do something.

At first I didn't know where I was going I just....

what I knew was I had to leave the country

and I paid a Nigerian guy. I can't remember the exact figure, but it was a lot of money.

I had to pay him to do my passport, which was a fake one, it was not mine.

And he bought my ticket as well, and he gave me the ticket and gave me instructions

as to what to do exactly.

I went to South Africa, and when I got to South Africa, I got an agent and

that agent helped me to come here and

he only said I was going to, we were to going to

Europe, but he didn't say where in Europe.

He also gave me instructions that I must tear the documents, 'cause they are not my documents originally

and he also told me that if I arrived here with those documents I could be arrested because this is against the law.

so I tore the documents, and I flushed them in the toilet.

And why was your life in danger?

Because I had a friend that was a lesbian, and she was my best friend, and....um....

We had like some pictures together, as a friend,

though she was known that she was a lesbian, so they assumed I was the partner, and....

so there were people that were looking for her and....

that's why they came to me asking about her, and I told them I wasn't her partner so

that's where the whole thing started,

and on the sexual abuse they said,

their way, it was their way of correcting me,

doing what they did to my son.

Most of the people have been welcoming here in Wicklow, but....

there is some people that are still not yet

opening their arms for us, but we hope at the end, things will be better with them.

That they will understand us.

I'm grateful because

my son got all the help that he needed. He got him....to see Doctors.

Psychologists.

If you could give a message to the people of Wicklow, what would you say?

Well, I would say..um..

They have....

really nothing to worry about when it comes to us, because we are harmless, and we hope that

maybe with time

they will get to accept us.

I feel very nervous yes, because the owners of the land, they're also, they're struggling with their with own

housing, and one more of person, like me, a foreigner, that's coming into their place

you know, and....

when I look here sometimes I feel like it's not fair that I've got accommodation and some of them they're living in the streets

you know.

You know, not having like more foreigners in your country, or asylum seekers like us, I think, and

then they'll be thinking maybe

we'll be getting their jobs in the future

or with the housing thing

going on now, the crisis, so it's going to be

kind of difficult for them to accept foreigners coming over to....to their place.

There are some difficulties. There are some welcoming hands as well. So....because I don't blame them. It's....

That's exactly who can, whatever we can do, even me in my country, if I see someone who is a foreigner

it's not gonna be easy for me to accept them

so I don't, I don't really blame people don't accept us, but

I respect they are....

I respect them for them for that.

You can't have open borders when you can't look after your own people.

I've spent a lot of time travelling around Ireland in the last few months, talking to communities

that....of rural, very rural communities, that feel very threatened. And of course, it's rural Ireland....

Rural Ireland is the heart of Ireland, because our cities have become so

multicultural, that they don't even feel Irish anymore. You go into a shop or a hotel and the chances are you will not

be served by an Irish person

so rural Ireland is where you get the real Ireland still. So people are very frightened,

if you speak out in any way shape or form against migration in this country, you are immediately called a racist

a fascist, a Neo-Nazi, it's disgusting

but this is all being done because there's big money behind

mass immigration into Ireland, as there is across Europe.

This is all about money, because these people don't care about the migrants who come here and end up homeless.

So....um....

It's terrifying for rural, Ireland.

Terrifying. And they see their towns and villages changing utterly. They see Mosques going up

they see....

you know....things, that to them are just completely alien, and they feel....

they feel under attack and they have every reason to.

We have one tiny little island....Okay....to call home. That's all we have.

We never went and colonized anywhere

we just have that. We have 60 million in America who claim Irish heritage

and even though many of them, or their parents, or grandparents, were forced to leave, because we have always had a history of emigration

they would someday like to come back here, and their children, and their grandchildren, and their great-grandchildren

and they have a right to come back and claim their Irish heritage.

We have many millions more living in the UK,

Australia, and New Zealand, and across the world, and they too have a right to call this island home.

So....um....

I'm sorry, no disrespect, but Ireland

primarily should be for the Irish people, due to the nature of our very unique culture.

The fact that we were colonized for nearly a millennium by the British.

We fought hard for our independence.

Now we have it - a hundred years, and what are we doing [with] it? Giving it away again.

Makes no sense.

It's a mistake....big mistake. It was a big mistake.

Do you regret leaving Afghanistan?

Yeah.

We weren't told. It was....it was absolutely disgraceful.

One day you can have 500 person

It's the best country. The best country

I want to go

When you cross you never come back

I just....I dont understand it

It's a business. I think it's a business

It's heartbreaking

A big mistake....a big mistake. It was a big mistake.

Going into this, I thought I had some understanding of the migration crisis

coming from a political background, from a journalism background

having read the material, looked at the studies, spent a lot of time talking about it

I really thought I had a better understanding of this issue than most people, and I think there is a cultural pressure

for people in general to pretend

they understand these giant crises we're dealing with

and to offer solutions to them, even when we don't have them, and I can tell you right now

being on the ground for four months

meeting these people, being in the middle of these shipments, these NGO operations, the camps....

all I have discovered....

is....

this is all so much more gray than I ever could have imagined.

Are these people invaders?

Are they intent on destroying the Western world?

No. A lot of them are like you and me, just born in very unfortunate countries with unfortunate situations

that they have hopes and dreams of leaving.

Are they refugees?

I Can't sit here and lie to you and pretend that they were. A lot of the people I met, I think the majority,

[were] from countries that weren't in war. People that had enough money

to be able to buy a ticket to get on these boats, who had sold houses that they owned in their

home country, who had businesses in their home country,

but....they certainly weren't coming

for the sole purpose of just

invading the West, pillaging its resources, or....

because they wanted to escape some sort of terror. And this is the....these are the narratives

that are sold to us by the media - that they are either escaping terror or coming to pillage Europe.

The truth is, they have been sold a lie.

Human traffickers, the media, how they portray Europe to these people, is....it is a paradise

These migrants truly believe they are coming to paradise.

You know, you have all these people who are

constantly chanting open borders.

Who want to help, who

genuinely in their hearts believe they are doing good, and they show up at train stations holding signs that say

refugees welcome.

They knit them blankets. They bring them baskets of food, and they just think that bringing these people in is

the most humanitarian and beautiful thing that you can do, for both Europe, and these migrants

but.............

Where are they when the cold French winter sets in?

Where are they when these people are sleeping under bridges and living on the streets?

And eventually when we figure it all out

you're gonna have a very broken and poor Europe, and a lot of hungry, homeless, lost and

displaced people, who were sold a lie.

And a lot of very wealthy evil men.

And this....this is the story that I didn't expect to find going on the ground,

but....it's what we got.

The story of a borderless Europe is one where nobody wins.

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