Migrants hope the Paris attacks won’t impact their chances at a new life

A Syrian passport was found next to the body of one of the Paris attackers last Friday night. It appears the gunman had come into Europe via Greece, posing as a refugee. That's prompted some to say that refugees from Syria shouldn't be welcomed in the West anymore.

That’s not stopping the flow of people.

And a popular entry point for many is the Greek island of Lesbos. Reporter Jeanne Carstensen is working on the island. She says the discovery of that passport in Paris underscores how little the authorities there know about who's coming in.

“This is an incident that shows the vulnerabilities in the registration process,” says Carstensen. “We don’t know who these people are, and they are arriving on these islands are they are moving on through.”

Given the number of people she’s seen move through Lesbos, Carstensen isn’t surprised a gunmen may have been in the mix.

They come by the thousands, each day. They arrive on rubber rafts and wooden boats. They land on whatever beach they find. And they arrived before and after the attacks in France. “It’s as if Paris doesn’t exist on these beaches,” she says. “People are coming. They need to come. They want to be here. They are still making this dangerous journey.”

The vast majority of these people are fleeing for their lives.

Cartstensen asked several if they were worried about the attacks in Paris impacting their ability to create a new life. She says it’s a subject they don’t want to think about.

“When they arrive here on Lesbos, they just completed a very dangerous sea journey. I think it’s a moment when they hold onto hope. They want to believe their chances are high. They’ve invested money. They’ve invested a lot in their dream of getting to a safer situation,” she says.

That’s what they focus on.

Residents on Lesbos haven’t changed their feelings toward those coming ashore just yet. Carstensen says they are waiting to see how the attacks might impact policy on the island. Everything is in flux. Besides, they’re too focused on the daily chore of making sure all the people coming to their island are safe and cared for as best as they can care. “Imagine what it’s like: 3,000 to 4,000 people every single day,” she says. “It is such a huge operation that people just have to keep welcoming them and moving them through.”

There’s been no official change in policy on Lesbos. But if there is a change, it could potentially strand thousands of people on the island as they are unable to move north.