Spain Battles Illegal Muslim Immigration
Thursday, November 25, 2004
By Steve Harrigan
PHOTOS VIDEO
TANGIER, Morocco — The bodies are anonymous, rotting in the shallows of the
Straits of Gibraltar. The fortunate ones are dragged out for a hasty burial.
They are Africans trying to make it to Europe, betting their lives on a
nine-mile ride, thousands losing that bet each year.
Spain used to be an open door for illegal immigrants. An estimated one-quarter
of all smuggled immigrants into Europe came through the Southern coast of
Spain, most setting off from Morocco (search).
The sticks and stones of frustrated border guards had little effect against a
rising tide of human traffic.
But all that changed on March 11. Most of the terrorists who killed 190 people
on commuter trains in Madrid were Moroccan. Suddenly, the immigrant problem was
a security problem.
Under pressure at home and from other European nations, rubber batons at the
border were replaced by speedboats but success, so far, is limited.
"The numbers are down here by 50 percent," said Lt. David Oliva of the Spanish
Border Guard. "But the smugglers are just moving to other parts of the coast."
Although only nine miles separate Africa from Europe, that stretch contains
some of the most dangerous currents in the world. Now, some people in Africa
are so desperate, they are ready to pay $1,000 a head just to get across, and
they'll take their chances on anything that floats.
Seventy-five people from the Moroccan village of Tangier drowned trying to
cross the waters last month. When FOX News approached families of the victims,
they started to cry. One man lost 21 relatives.
With no electricity, jobs, education, or running water, there is nothing to do
but wait for someone to get them out of the area. "These people are so
desperate they are ready to die," said Khalil Jemmah, a Moroccan aid worker.
"It's just a question of who gets here first, the smugglers or the terrorists."
More often than not, it's the terrorists who are getting there first.
It was a Moroccan who is accused of killing filmmaker Theo Van Gogh in the
Netherlands this month. The murder set off weeks of ethnic and religious
clashes and skirmishes in Spain in what may eventually become a pan-European
battle, fueled by the failure to integrate a new, illegal Muslim population.
Editor's Note: This is part one of a four-part series about the Muslim
population in Europe. Tomorrow's installment will focus on how Sweden is
handling a huge influx of Muslims.
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