Politics
12:11, 03-Sep-2017
Italy struggling to cope with estimated 170,000 asylum seekers
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Italy is bearing the brunt of the migrant crisis in the Mediterranean, with what the UN estimates are more than 170,000 migrants in Italian reception centers.
In the hills around the historic town of Syracuse, a restaurant turned reception center is now home to 180 asylum seekers.
Like other centers in Italy, it's over capacity. One asylum seeker says he has been here for eight months, far longer than the 72 hours migrants are supposed to be.
The days are long and no one is allowed to work. They say they don't know if or when they'll be given residency papers or a more permanent home.
The reality is that very few will be granted asylum.
"In the three years that I have stayed there, that I worked there, only nine people got asylum," said Margharit Latino, a cultural mediator at the reception center. "It is very difficult in the first step to get asylum."