James Angelos

Project: The Greek asylum system as the country experiences an influx of immigration over its Turkish border.
Committed media: The New Republic
Format: Print / photos

Bio: James Angelos is a freelance journalist based in Berlin, Germany. He has written for Foreign Affairs, The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, The New Republic and World Policy Journal. Prior to moving to Berlin, he was a writer for The New York Times City Section. He has also worked as a recorder of oral histories, traveling across America for StoryCorps.

Update (May 15, 2012): The picture below was taken by James Angelos and shows supporters of the ultranationalist Golden Dawn party celebrating in Athens after they won seven percent of the vote on May 6, which allowed them to enter parliament for the first time.

As Greece has become the main point of entry of irregular migrants into the European Union, Golden Dawn's electoral success stems from rising anti-immigrant sentiment. According to James, many migrants express little desire to stay in Greece, where there are no job opportunities and lacking government services, leading to desperate conditions in blighted urban areas. Now, in addition to poverty and hunger, many migrants fear racist attacks. When he took this picture, James was interviewing a 23-year-old Somali migrant who had just crossed into Greece a week earlier and who told him, "I thought I would find a better life.”