Posted on 05/18/2006 6:49:59 PM PDT by blam
This is Europe's problem too, says Madrid
By Mike Elkin
(Filed: 19/05/2006)
Spain has issued its most urgent international appeal for help in coping with illegal immigrants flooding into the Canary Islands.
Madrid announced it will dispatch diplomats to several countries in western Africa, where the migrants come from, while a European parliament delegation will arrive next month to assess a problem that the Spaniards say is not just theirs but Europe's.
Over 2,000 migrants have reached the Spanish coast this month
The calmer seas of early summer have seen a sharp rise in the numbers reaching the holiday islands, which are the closest European land to the west African coast. More than 1,400 arrived in Tenerife and Gran Canaria in the past week, while 2,000 have landed this month, mostly from Senegal and Mali, compared with 4,751 in the whole of last year.
Their journeys can be as long as 900 miles, in usually small, often unseaworthy, craft. Hundreds have perished on the journey. Yesterday Spanish coast guards intercepted seven boats carrying a total of 483 people. Several more craft carrying hundreds more migrants were caught attempting to land on the two islands on Wednesday.
The route has become more popular after the Strait of Gibraltar was more closely policed and security was improved between Morocco and Spain's two African enclaves, Ceuta and Melilla.
Three naval ships and three surveillance aircraft are scanning the waters between Africa and the Canaries. Their orders are to watch and inform the interior ministry of any possible immigrant vessels heading toward Spain.
Coastguards escort boats into designated areas mostly away from tourist beaches, where passengers are often received by the Red Cross and medical care, food and shelter are provided by local authorities and charities.
On Tenerife the new arrivals are crammed into the police headquarters, a court house and a pre-fabricated barracks, which already houses 200 people. Police cells are also packed. "We have never seen anything like it," said government prefect Jose Segura, describing it as an emergency situation.
The wave of immigrants does not seem to have affected the tourism in Tenerife, however. "The authorities usually catch them as they arrive and then take them via bus or ambulance to the town," said the director of a hotel on the southern coast. "If it didn't appear in the press, I don't think anyone would even know."
The immigrants look to exploit Spain's liberal immigration laws. Spain can hold them for just 40 days and can repatriate them only if it identifies their home country and has an extradition agreement with it. They are then free to travel to mainland Spain or take their chances in any other European country.
The Canary Islands' spokesman on employment and social affairs, Marisa Zamora, said: "At present we do not have the space or the resources to cope with such an influx."
The government has repeated its stance that the key to reducing illegal immigration lies with the African nations involved - by guarding the coasts and implementing repatriation laws.
The foreign minister, Miguel Angel Moratinos, yesterday said a special ambassador and a team of diplomats would begin "three- to six-month" missions in Africa, listing Cape Verde, Gambia, Verde, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Niger and Senegal as places where they would operate.
On Tuesday, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, the prime minister, sent letters to the leaders of Senegal, Guinea-Bissau and Mali, asking them to help to curb the flow of immigrants from their shores. Joint coastal patrols were due to begin this week.
Between February and May 2005, the government conducted a one-off amnesty for undocumented immigrants. The Labour Ministry received about 692,000 requests, of which about 573,000 were approved. The nationalities with the largest number of approved applications were Ecuador, Romania and Morocco.
"It's Europe's fault. It's Africa's fault."
Try: "It's Spain's fault."
6500 'arrivals' doesn't really seem like that many. especially compared to the US border numbers.
"Camp of the Saints"
That many (or more) come through Arizona each and every month.
Bush Immigration Reforms Fail To Reassure Patriots
"Last year, the Yuma Border Patrol, which oversees a 62-mile stretch, seized 138,000 "illegal aliens" attempting to cross into America. This year, it has already caught 96,000, a 13 per cent increase."
Read it, prophetic book.
"Raspail’s story is about the arrival on the ritzy Mediterranean coast of France of an armada of 100 decrepit ships carrying 800,000 Indians. By the time the fleet arrives, the French government, which has tracked the voyage hour by hour, has collapsed in a paroxysm of white guilt. The Indians come ashore unopposed. Others follow. France disappears and, also, all of Europe."
"The San Francisco Chronicle called Raspail’s tale "audacious and imaginative fiction." A quarter century later Raspail’s fiction is hard news."
Just pass a law and feel good about it. That's what we do. Boy, is Spain living in the last century!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.