Thomas Paul Wiederholen
The Gatestone Institute
August 3, 2018
On July 26, some 800 migrants from sub-Saharan Africa violently stormed the border fence between Morocco, where they were living illegally, and the Spanish enclave of Ceuta. According to Spanish authorities:
“In an attempt to stop the Guardia Civil getting close to the break-in area, the migrants … [pelted] officers with plastic containers of excrement and quicklime, sticks and stones, as well as using aerosols as flame-throwers.”
Many people were wounded in the clash, and 602 migrants succeeded in entering Spanish territory.
Two weeks earlier, the rescue ship Aquarius, operated by the French NGO Sos Méditerranée, picked up 629 Sub-Saharan migrants off the coast of Libya. After both Italy and Malta refused to take in the migrants, with Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini declaring, “No to human trafficking, no to the business of illegal immigration,” Spain welcomed the ship, and two other vessels carrying illegal migrants, at the port of Valencia.
Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, the head of Spain’s newly-formed socialist government — which has promised free healthcare to the migrants and says it will investigate every asylum claim individually — said in mid-June: “It is our duty to help avoid a humanitarian catastrophe and offer a safe port to these people, to comply with our human rights obligations.”
According to a July 27 report about Spain in The Telegraph:
“The country is now the largest gateway for migrants crossing the Mediterranean to Europe, with 20,992 people landing on its shores so far this year… Arrivals to Italy now trail Spain by almost 3000 – a gap that just a week ago was 200.”
This, the report says, has completely “overwhelmed” the Spanish coastguard, which is issuing an urgent call for additional resources to help deal with the massive influx.
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