Caught Between Continents

ELIO DESIDERIO/AFP-GETTY IMAGES

Out Of Africa: Illegal immigrants detained on the Italian island of Lampedusa were flown promptly back to Tripoli

It took Samuel Agustin more than a month to reach Tripoli from his home in the West African country of Benin, traveling by taxi and trudging hundreds of kilometers across the Sahara in blistering heat. That, he says, was the easy part. Since that journey three years ago, the 24-year-old former sociology student has been trying to find a way out of the Libyan capital. "We came here just to look for jobs," Agustin told Time last week on a crowded downtown sidewalk, where he washes cars for small change. "Now, since we don't have work, we don't have money. Without...

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