Europe’s policy toward migrants from North Africa and the Middle East has taken many twists and turns over the past several years. The latest of these involves the newly installed government in Italy and new measures that mandate that only refugees judged to be “<a href="https://www.ft.com/content/a59acc21-08ad-42b1-ba1d-fd4c21b9066a" target="_blank" rel="noopener">vulnerable</a>” — specifically, minors or those with severe medical issues — are allowed to enter the country. The early days of implementation of the policy have led to a standoff, as migrants and their supporters make their case, and Italian port authorities rule on who among the latest arrivals are “vulnerable” and therefore permitted to enter the country.

As these photos make clear, the situation has come to a head in and around the Italian port of Catania, in Sicily, where<a href="https://apnews.com/article/europe-france-germany-migration-italy-0093a5514cb2de4f26810c8996b53ca0" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> more than 1,000 migrants </a>hoped to land over the weekend after being rescued from rafts and small boats in the Mediterranean Sea. A pair of ships operated by nongovernmental organizations that work to save migrants docked at Catania, each carrying several hundred of the migrants. The first, Humanity 1, arrived on Sunday with <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/11/06/1134653669/italy-giorgia-meloni-migrant-rescue-ships" target="_blank" rel="noopener">179 migrants on board; 144 of these were allowed to enter Italy</a>; 35 were refused and left on the ship. Later that day, a second ship arrived, this one carrying far more would-be refugees; of the nearly 600 people aboard, 357 passengers were permitted to disembark. At this writing, at least two more ships wait offshore, also crowded with migrants rescued at sea.

Italy’s new prime minister,<a href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/migrant-boat-docks-in-italy-but-many-still-stranded/ar-AA13RFJI" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> Giorgia Meloni, has said the policy</a> is meant to stop migrant traffickers from “deciding who enters Italy”; and even the United Nations Refugee Commissioner’s representative in Italy has argued that Italy has been “left alone” and borne too much of the burden of taking the migrants — most of whom come from North Africa and the Middle East.

Under the new policy, those rejected at Catania and other Italian ports are given only a limited time before they have to leave — but that has left the ships and their migrant passengers in a kind of maritime limbo. Where are they to go?

According to Italy’s Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi, France “could accept the possibility to disembark” some of the passengers. France hasn’t responded to the suggestion. And while the Italians threaten to order the ship back into international waters, <a href="https://sos-humanity.org/en/home/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">SOS Humanity</a>, the German charity that supports some of the rescue vessels, says its ships will not <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/charity-group-challenges-italy-over-migrant-stand-off-2022-11-07/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">leave</a>. The organization <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/italy-allows-minors-sick-leave-migrant-ship-2022-11-06/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told Reuters </a>that the Italian measures deprive those migrants, most of whom took to sea from Libya, “of both their right to freedom and their right to go ashore in a place of safety.” They say they may take their fight to the Italian courts.

The photos capture the scenes and conditions on board some of the ships and at the port, where activists have protested the new rules and the way they are being implemented. Catania is just the latest flashpoint in a seemingly endless crisis of global migration. It won’t be the last.

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img src="https://cms.themessenger.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/ECEXRLILL5HW3K3TP6A6BNXJKU-scaled.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-3662"/><figcaption class='wp-element-caption'>Seated survivors study Italian and English on the deck of the Ocean Viking on Oct. 28 in the Strait of Sicily, Mediterranean Sea.</figcaption></figure>

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img src="https://cms.themessenger.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/44KAYXX6FJCOJF3HZCV5WWFFVQ-scaled.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-3663"/><figcaption class='wp-element-caption'>The 35 people on the ship Humanity 1 who were refused disembarkation wait on the deck in Catania, Italy, on Sunday.</figcaption></figure>

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img src="https://cms.themessenger.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/UIZNNTAPG5GE3BMYL7I6OUOKTQ-scaled.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-3664"/><figcaption class='wp-element-caption'>A young migrant just disembarked from Humanity 1 boards a bus after health checks on Sunday in Catania.</figcaption></figure>

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img src="https://cms.themessenger.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/7XKDHU4FQNGWVO6D7O7B6FHQBM-scaled.jpg" alt="Protesters are seen with megaphones and holding signs and flags by the port." class="wp-image-3665"/><figcaption class='wp-element-caption'>Activists participate in a demonstration against the Italian government's new selection process at the port of Catania on Sunday.</figcaption></figure>

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img src="https://cms.themessenger.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/FY4KLZJS3NGYTNQNPPRPICNG3Y-scaled.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-3666"/><figcaption class='wp-element-caption'>A group of policemen guards the entrance to the pier on Sunday in Catania.</figcaption></figure>

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img src="https://cms.themessenger.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/2SB3B27PN5EO7GNKHXERI3PEIQ-scaled.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-3667"/><figcaption class='wp-element-caption'>Migrants study Italian and English on the deck of the Ocean Viking on Oct. 28 in the Strait of Sicily.</figcaption></figure>

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