CROTONE, Italy - On a continent that has spent years trying to cut off undocumented immigration - using fences, surveillance, financial incentives and sometimes even brute force - the close-the-door strategy is faltering.
Migration across the Mediterranean has crested to the highest level in five years. New nationalities, most notably from Egypt, have joined the stream of people seeking escape to Europe. And hard-line border policies are merely driving smugglers to adapt: Soon after Greek authorities instituted a practice of harsh pushbacks, boats departing Turkey began charting a longer route - bypassing Greece and heading instead to Italy's Calabrian coast, an area that used to see almost no arrivals.