immigration

Tunisian Mabrouka and her children sit on the floor in a room where they share food, barely enough for two people. She says: “We have no solution. Either we all die or we succeed in reaching Europe,” after two failed attempts to leave Tunisia by sea. Mabrouka (38 years old), wearing faded clothes, says in her house, the walls of which have been eroded, and which does not have water or electricity, in a popular neighborhood in the city of Sfax (east): “If I have a boat, we will try again to treat my son.” The situation is difficult for Tunisian families Her husband, Raouf Haweij, tried twice during the months of July and August to cross the sea illegally with all the family members, after he became fed up with the situation and no longer earned enough money from collecting plastic and scrap pieces, from which he used to live, to treat his eldest son, Ahmed (22 years old), who has been paralyzed since he suffered a severe brain hemorrhage five years ago in an accident. 8,020 people attempted to immigrate illegally from Tunisia, from the beginning of the year until mid-September, including about 250 minors, according to statistics from the Tunisian Ministry of Interior. The Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights, a non-governmental organization specializing in the issue of illegal immigration, explained that the number of arrivals to the Italian coast since the beginning of this year has reached an unprecedented number since 2011, with the number of minors among immigrants beginning to increase. The organization estimates that in 2011 the number of arrivals exceeded 22,000. About 100 families arrived in Italy Media officer Ramadan Ben Omar says that the organization estimates that the number of irregular migrants who arrived on the Italian coasts during the first eight months of this year is approximately eight thousand, and that between ninety and one hundred Tunisian families have arrived on the Italian coasts. Raouf was arrested on his second attempt, and Mabrouka was left alone facing a difficult situation with her five children. She said with tears in her eyes: “I did not commit a sin. I did not steal or commit a crime. I just stole from the sea and tried,” adding: “I have given up on life and my situation has become more severe. I want to treat my son. I am not asking for anything else.” In a video clip filmed by the family on the phone during their attempt to cross the sea last July, father Raouf appears screaming at Coast Guard forces that surrounded him and forced him to return to the port: “Do not blame me for taking my children, no one paid any attention to me and no one helped me.” Palace appearing in "Death Tours" On the deck of the boat, his wife, Mabrouka, sat with all the family members surrounding the crippled son, who was stretched out, with a respirator attached to his nose. The mother, who is illiterate, says: “I went to the officials for help, but no one responded to me. They only gave me 180 dinars (55 euros) for the bandages,” and she feels a constant fear that Ahmed will die at any moment. The irregular migration movement has witnessed several stops since 2017, especially with the appearance of minors on these trips, which the organization justified by explaining that “there has become awareness” that the minor enjoys protection upon arriving on European shores and therefore will not be deported. Ben Omar explained that the Tunisian family had previously been a “resistance element” to the migration of its children and was trying to repel these plans and thwart them, but “little by little the family became frustrated and burdened by the difficult economic and social situation, and began to see no objection to financing the migration project for its children and began to participate in the migration process.” Attempts