Heartbreaking Photos Of European Migrants Whose Lives Are In Limbo

Alessandro Penso

The U.S. isn't the only nation dealing with a border crisis. Migrants from Africa and the Middle East have flooded to Europe in the past decade, and the numbers have only gotten bigger recently. In 2012, 75,000 people were detected trying to enter the EU, according to The New York Times. In 2013, that number hit 107,000.

Recently, Italian photographer Alessandro Penso sought to document the lives of these migrants with his project, "Youth, Denied." Penso depicted the difficult lives of young migrants in Greece and Italy. Many are trapped in a political limbo, unable to return to their home country and living illegally in a new one.

Penso has taken his work on the road, filling out a truck with photos from his project and driving from Bari - one of the main landing places for migrants - to Brussels, the seat of the European Union. His project is called "The European Dream: Road to Bruxelles." Penso hopes to engage with Europeans in cities along the way, to educate them on the plight of the often misunderstood migrants.

Penso shared a number of photos from his project here, and check out more on his website.