Spain's PM says no evidence Morocco is behind immigration surge

by · UPI

Aug. 31 (UPI) -- Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said Monday there is no evidence that Morocco is behind 80,000 migrants crossing into Ceuta and called out Russia and Israel for spreading disinformation.

Sanchez said officials are still investigating July's immigration surge. Tens of thousands crossed the border into Ceuta on July 30 and 31, creating a humanitarian emergency in the region.

"There's no information from any intelligence agency that raises doubts over the involvement of Moroccan authorities, " Sanchez said in a radio interview. "Cooperation with Morocco is frankly positive. I'd like to stress that we need to be aware that this crisis can be resolved only through cooperation -- and not through a lack of trust in Morocco, which would only further aggravate the already complex situation we have in Ceuta."

Sanchez said disinformation about the migrant influx has been driven by social media accounts with ties to Russia, Israel and far right organizations that seek to demonize immigrants.

The disinformation that has spread about the situation has blamed a ruling by the Spanish Supreme Court that Spain cannot send away migrants who have crossed into Spain's territory.

Spain has not summoned Moroccan leaders as it did in 2021 when Morocco loosened its border policies, allowing 10,000 people to migrate into Ceuta. Spain's Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares was not foreign minister at that time.

Some lawmakers in Spain from across the political spectrum have alleged that Morocco has played a role in allowing mass migration into Ceuta.

Santiago Abascal, leader of the far-right Vox party, has called the migration surge "an invasion and an act of war promoted by Morocco and allowed by Sanchez."

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Martin Luther King Jr. delivers his famed "I Have a Dream" speech from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington on August 28, 1963. The speech galvanized the nation's civil rights movements and led to the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the 1965 Voting Rights Act and the 1968 Fair Housing Act. File photo by UPI | License Photo

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