Spain Scrambles to Cope With Tide of African Migrants

As thousands of Africans gather in Mauritania, seeking eventual passage to the EU, Spain is taking an active role in preventing the migrant job-seekers from reaching its shores. Spain’s deputy prime minister paid an emergency visit to the Canary Islands to discuss controls on the record flow of African migrants reaching there from Africa’s Atlantic seaboard. Many of the Africans, who are malnourished, dehydrated and in need of medical attention, have converged in Mauritania, hoping to then travel 500 miles in small boats to reach the Canary Islands, Spain and then other points in the EU. In 2005, officials detained more than 4,700 migrants trying to reach the Canary Islands, with numbers increasing since a border crackdown by Moroccan officials. – YaleGlobal