NADJA DROST:

Ali has crossed into France six times on foot, but each time French police caught him and sent him back to Italy. That's because of the Dublin Regulation – a 2003 agreement among the 28 nations of the European Union that requires asylum seekers to apply in the first country they arrived in. So migrants who land in Italy and transit to northern Europe are always at risk of being sent back. The policy has created a bottleneck in Ventimiglia. The only shelter for stranded migrants is a Red Cross camp, where men, women and children from countries like Afghanistan, Somalia, and Ethiopia stay, as they decide whether to attempt a border crossing or seek asylum in Italy. Every day, migrants board trains in Ventimiglia bound for France – a mere 10 minute ride. But French police wait on the other side in the town of Menton. They board trains, remove migrants without proper papers, and send them back – by bus or the next train bound for Ventimiglia. Others are sent walking back. Europe's open borders are shutting their gates to migrants and refugees. On his latest attempt to cross into France, Ali, the Sudanese migrant, set out with a few friends on a road leading out of Ventimiglia.