About that Moroccan Boy, What's-his-name....
IMMIGRATION-SPAIN: Not Even 1,000 Deaths Have Stemmed the Flow
By Tito Drago
MADRID, Aug 11 [1998] (IPS) - The flow of would-be immigrants has not let up even though 1,000 undocumented Africans - five a day - have drowned in the Strait of Gibraltar between Spain and Morocco so far this year, according to Spain's leading immigrant advocacy group.
oneworld.org
Excerpt:
The European Union has set restrictions on the entry of immigrants from non-EU countries. Spain has set an annual quota of 25,000 work and residency permits, which are not always issued due to administrative omission and delays that drag out the procedure up to eight months.
ATIME calculates that so far this year 1,000 people have died in their attempts to enter Europe through the Strait of Gibraltar, which joins the Atlantic ocean and the Mediterranean sea.
The Spanish government, which registers only the deaths that take place in national waters, has counted 200. But ATIME estimates that another 800 have drowned in Moroccan waters. The total leaves an average of five a day, mainly 16 to 30-year-olds.
The immigrant advocacy group calculates that 17,000 survivors have been captured and deported to Morocco by the Spanish police this year, and that 20,000 found refuge and work in Spain or other European nations.
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