Throughout 2025, InfoMigrants travelled across several countries, from Côte d’Ivoire to North Macedonia, the Balearic Islands, Greece, Italy, the United Kingdom and Spain, to give a voice to migrants and document migration policies in countries of origin, transit and settlement. This retrospective looks back at the key reports produced during the year.

Ten years after the 2015 migration peak in Europe, InfoMigrants returned to five emblematic locations marked by that historic moment. The journey began in Lampedusa, the Italian island that has long symbolised arrivals from North Africa. The newsroom then went to Idomeni, a small village in northern Greece where thousands of migrants were stranded during the winter of 2015–2016 at the Macedonian border. In Budapest, reporters revisited Keleti railway station, which had been transformed into an informal migrant camp. Munich, once praised for its welcoming stance, was also revisited, as well as Lesbos, the Greek island that received more than one hundred thousand migrants in 2015 and has since become a symbol of both solidarity and confinement.

In Côte d’Ivoire, InfoMigrants met young Ivorians who returned to Abidjan after failed attempts to settle in France. With support from the French Office for Immigration and Integration, some managed to rebuild their lives through local projects. The newsroom also reported on families of migrants who disappeared along migration routes, traumatised returnees struggling to reintegrate, and young people secretly preparing to leave for Europe. One particularly moving testimony was that of a mother who lost her twenty-year-old daughter, who drowned in the Mediterranean while attempting the journey.

During the summer, the Balearic Islands faced an unprecedented influx of migrants, overwhelming local authorities at the height of the tourist season. As controls intensified on other Mediterranean routes, crossings from Algeria to the Balearics increased sharply. Humanitarian workers described daily arrivals, as well as deaths and disappearances at sea, highlighting a situation described as chaotic and deeply alarming.

In southern Italy, InfoMigrants reported from the province of Reggio di Calabria, where hundreds of migrant workers travel each year to harvest citrus fruits. While working conditions have improved in recent years thanks to efforts by some farmers and associations, extreme precarity, exploitation and substandard housing persist. Reports focused both on initiatives offering dignified housing and on informal settlements that remain symbols of migrant hardship.

The United Kingdom was also a focus of attention after a sexual assault committed by an asylum seeker triggered widespread anti-migrant demonstrations. Protests initially erupted in Epping, near London, before spreading nationwide, particularly targeting the housing of asylum seekers in hotels. InfoMigrants reported on the growing tensions, giving voice both to protesters and to local residents opposing the stigmatisation of migrants.

In Spain, reporters examined an asylum system described as highly restrictive. With a record number of asylum applications, immigration services have struggled to cope, leaving many applicants waiting months or even years to file their claims. Many rejected asylum seekers turn to alternative residence permits, but access to these remains complex and slow despite recent reforms. Testimonies from undocumented migrants in Madrid illustrated the difficulties of integration and daily survival.

North Macedonia, a small non-EU country, was covered as a key transit zone for migrants heading toward Western Europe. While asylum requests remain limited, international protection is rarely granted. NGOs denounced pushbacks to Greece, arbitrary detentions and abuses linked to anti-smuggling policies, raising concerns over migrants’ rights.

Finally, in northern Italy, InfoMigrants reported on unaccompanied minors living in reception centres in Monfalcone and Trieste. These centres provide shelter, education and psychological support to young migrants arriving via the Balkan route, offering them a brief moment of stability after long and dangerous journeys.

Through these reports, InfoMigrants highlighted the human realities behind migration, shedding light on policies, borders and lives shaped by exile throughout 2025.