(AP) Cyprus is launching a multilingual SMS campaign to head off more migrant arrivals by dispelling the mistaken belief the European Union member country is a gateway to the continent, the Cypriot interior minister said Sunday.
Nicos Nouris told the Associated Press the text-message blitz aims to counter “disinformation” propagated by people traffickers that securing asylum status in Cyprus will grant would-be migrants a “passport” to other EU countries.
Nouris said arriving migrants are effectively “trapped” in Cyprus because the island nation isn’t part of the Schengen area — those 26 European nations that have abolished their borders and permit unrestricted travel between them.
