Spain’s ‘Migrant Friendly’ Border Fences
Spanish authorities have begun removing razor wire from border fences along Spain’s frontier with Morocco. The Socialist government ordered their removal after migrants who jumped the fences to enter Europe illegally suffered injuries.
Spain’s ‘Migrant Friendly’ Border Fences
Soeren Kern | Gatestone Institute | December 11, 2019
Spanish authorities have begun removing razor wires, known as concertina wire, from border fences along Spain’s frontier with Morocco. The Socialist government ordered their removal after migrants who tried to jump the fences to enter Europe illegally suffered injuries after coming into contact with the wire.
Spanish Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska justified the removal by saying that Morocco had recently installed concertina wire on fences on its side of the border, and that therefore it was no longer necessary on the Spanish side.
Critics say that the razor wire functions as a significant deterrent to illegal immigration and that by removing it, the Spanish government not only risks unleashing new waves of mass migration from Africa, but also places effective control of the Spanish border to Morocco, with which Spain has a tense relationship. Morocco frequently dumps large numbers of illegal migrants along the Spanish border to extract concessions from the Spanish government on unrelated issues.
