Posted on 06/11/2018 9:54:35 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
A ship carrying more than 600 rescued migrants, including 123 unaccompanied minors and seven pregnant women, remained stranded in the Mediterranean Sea on Monday after Italy's new populist government refused to allow it to dock the day before, in a move described by rescuers as unprecedented.
Matteo Salvini, Italy's hardline interior minister and leader of the anti-immigration League party, called on the country to "close the ports" and pledged Sunday to "STOP the filthy business of illegal immigration."
Supplies on the ship are beginning to run low and a number of people are in need of medical treatment, including 15 with serious chemical burns and several others suffering from hypothermia, according to Doctors Without Borders (MSF), which operates the rescue ship Aquarius alongside SOS Méditerranée.
Spanish President Pedro Sanchez announced Monday afternoon that the ship and its passengers would be welcome in the port of Valencia.
"It is our obligation to help avoid a humanitarian catastrophe and offer 'a safe harbor' to these people, thus complying with obligations of International law," he said in a statement.
Salvini took to social media within minutes to celebrate the news. "VICTORY! 629 migrants on board of Aquarius ship, Spain-bound, our first goal has been reached!" he wrote on Facebook.
However, it is currently unclear whether such a move is possible as the Aquarius is obliged to obey the commands of the Maritime Rescue Coordination Center (MRCC), an arm of the government-controlled Italian Coast Guard.
It is also unclear whether the ship has enough fuel and supplies for the roughly 800-mile journey to Valencia.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
Take them back to Libya.
They are picking them up off the coast of Libya and transporting them to Italy.
Italy has no responsibility to take them, they came from Libya.
Boo meet Hoo.
Go back home. You are invaders . We’ll lend you some fuel for the trip.
Must be Trump’s fault.
Why don’t the EU countries just turn them back to Africa? (rhetorical question)
Maybe they could go to Cuba, the island probably would be glad to get some extra help harvesting the sugar.
So the migrants will depart the vessel, step onto Spanish soil...be forced to apply for asylum there (and only there), then wake up to realize that Spain currently has around 17-percent unemployment. You can’t even get a burger-flipper job.
Wow, CNN did this whole article and not one word about where the migrants are from except to say North Africa.
Hey Fake News-They are Muslims from Muslim countries bent on taking over Europe in Jihadi conquest.
Italy is correct. Here’s an idea, turn the boat south and return them to whatever country they came from
Send them back to Trashcanistan where they came from.
Problem solved.
From MAGA to MIGA!-)
Well, they will be a welcome lot to the locals then won’t they? /s
I doubt Salvini will back down.
629 will be 12,000 before you know it. They’ll breed like rats while collecting their welfare.
Oh, yes ... after the ship gets back to Trashcanistani waters, sink it.
On being asked, the average CNN reporter can’t name the President or Prime Minister of Africa
Now that’s good! Had not seen it before. VERY good! You made me lol.
That’s a “cruise” I wouldn’t want to be on. Don’t let them land.
Trashcanistani
I saw this country on Trumps travel ban list. Good deal.
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