Illegal immigration opponents in Europe are expressing outrage Thursday over new footage showing a migrant boat arriving Wednesday at a crowded beach in Spain, where dozens of migrants jumped ashore in full view of swimmers and sunbathers before making their way inland, apparently hoping to settle in Spain and the European Union. The unusual footage comes as right-wing circles in Europe and Spain remain furious over the mass breach by migrants from Morocco into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta at the end of last month.
The footage, filmed Wednesday at around 1 p.m. near the famous La Manga Club resort on the Costa Cálida, shows a black boat carrying about 60 migrants approaching the popular Cala del Barco cove. The migrants then begin jumping into the water in front of stunned vacationers.
Shock on Spanish beach: Migrants jump into water in front of sunbathing tourists
The migrants, who according to estimates were mostly young North Africans in their early 20s or younger, ran past sunbathers and quickly made their way into nearby towns. Concerned vacationers were seen gathering their belongings and fleeing the shoreline. Some called the police. The boat is later seen turning around and heading back out to sea.
The shock over how easily the migrant boat reached Spain appears to have been heightened not only by the fact that the entry onto Spanish territory was captured on video, but also by the fact that it occurred near a famous resort such as La Manga. The British Sun noted Thursday that the resort is known for its luxury hotels, golf course and soccer training facilities and has previously hosted numerous celebrities, including David Beckham, Matt Damon, Salma Hayek and Robbie Williams.
'How could a boat like this reach the beach without being detected by radar?'
Francisco Bernabé, the former mayor of nearby La Unión, sharply criticized what was seen in the footage.
“Dozens of illegal migrants landed today at the La Manga Club cove. How is it possible that a boat of this size was not detected by radar? Are they broken? Were they turned off? Or are they working and simply being ignored?” he said.
Noelia Arroyo, mayor of Cartagena, where Cala del Barco is located, was also furious.
“This must not be normalized. If a migrant boat can reach a cove like this, drop people off in front of citizens and then leave, we have to ask ourselves how our maritime border surveillance is operating,” she said.
The La Manga footage comes after about 72,000 illegal migrants managed to breach the border between Morocco and Ceuta at the end of last month. Ceuta is a Spanish enclave in North Africa that borders Morocco.
Most of the migrants have since been returned to Morocco, but about 5,000 remain in Ceuta and are awaiting a determination of their status. Many, particularly minors, are ultimately expected to receive permission to settle in Spain and therefore in the European Union. Their status could also allow them to bring family members to live with them in Spain in the future.
Mass breach into Ceuta puts spotlight on Sánchez
(Photo: AP Photo/Antonio Sempere)
Thousands of migrants who infiltrated the Spanish enclave from Morocco continue to wait on the beach there
(Photo: Adri Salido/Getty Images Europe )
The scenes of masses of migrants breaching the border from Morocco into Ceuta came at a particularly sensitive political moment, against the backdrop of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s plan to regularize the status of hundreds of thousands of undocumented migrants already living in Spain, allowing them to work legally.
Sánchez’s government announced the plan in April, and in June Sánchez said more than 1 million undocumented migrants had registered for it. Most are likely to meet the requirements and receive the sought-after legal status.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s plan to regularize the status of hundreds of thousands of undocumented migrants
(Photo: REUTERS/Tingshu Wang)
Sánchez, a left-wing prime minister, has presented the regularization program as a moral measure that will bring justice to migrants currently working in Spain without legal status. He has also described it as economically necessary, arguing that it will help fill labor shortages and address the country’s aging population, a trend that threatens Spain’s pension and welfare systems.
The Spanish right, however, has accused Sánchez of enabling and encouraging an “invasion” of migrants into Spain. Following the events in Ceuta, right-wing politicians from other European countries joined the criticism. Italy even suspended the Schengen agreement with Spain and reinstated passport checks for people arriving from Spain at its borders.