BRUSSELS (AP) – The head of the European Union’s border agency says the number of migrants arriving in Europe through Spain has more than doubled this year.
Frontex Director Fabrice Leggeri said Monday that “we have registered almost 14,000 arrivals in Spain, arriving from Morocco, from the western part of the Maghreb.”
Leggeri said it “means that the figures were multiplied by more than 2.5 this year” compared to the same January-August period last year. He said this included sea and land arrivals, via Spain’s enclaves in northern Africa – Ceuta and Melilla, and that most migrants were Moroccan citizens.
He said arrivals to Europe from Libya through the central Mediterranean have dropped but could he not say whether the rise in Spain was due to tougher migrant controls around Libya.
“Frontex has no indication of such displacement,” he said.