On International Migrants Day, Migrants Have Little Reason to Celebrate

For 16 years, the international community has marked Dec. 18 as a day to celebrate the world's immigrants. This year, the International Organization for Migration has asked that International Migrants Day also be considered a day of remembrance for those who have died or disappeared on their journeys in search of a better life. For Europe's citizens, this tragedy is becoming all too common: Many have grown accustomed to daily reports of shipwrecks that have left bodies strewn across the Continent's shores. The conditions facing the floods of people pouring into Europe are getting worse, and several EU member states have tried to shut their doors to outsiders. But in doing so they have brought the bloc, founded on the principle of open borders, even closer to its breaking point.