Syrian immigrants

Víctor Méndez tells the story of his great-grandfather, José Barguil, who came to Costa Rica from Syria in 1930.

Athens is warning that the number of migrants "trapped" along the Greece-Macedonia border could reach up to 70,000 by next month.

At least 21 asylum seekers from the Middle East and North Africa are suspects in the New Year's Eve rampage of sexual assaults and thefts in the German city of Cologne, authorities said, even as word emerged of similar acts in Finland, Sweden and other German cities.

The Syrian woman's lawyer said his client was the victim of human trafficking at the time of her detention and has requested her immediate release.

Costa Rica is sometimes criticized for copying the United States too closely and it appears anti-Syrian hysteria is the latest trend to arrive from Uncle Sam.

Since the start of Syria's bloody civil war four years ago, a flood of refugees have fled the country in search of some place safer. Millions turned to neighboring countries like Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan. And a trickle are now appearing on the western side of the Atlantic, having decided that a trip across a foreign continent at Central American smugglers' hands is their best bet for starting a new life.

The five Syrian men arrested in Honduras and the Syrian woman arrested in Costa Rica this week are being treated as undocumented migrants. Authorities said there was no sign they had any ties to the Islamic State group or other extremist organizations.