A new migrant route is forming in the Basque Country of Spain following the tightening of migrant routes in Turkey and Italy, with observers claiming that up to 150 migrants arrive daily attempting to get to France and northern Europe.
The main route lies across the French-Spanish border region where migrants, mostly from sub-Saharan Africa, attempt to cross from Spain into France while police on both sides of the border attempt to prevent them, Le Parisien reports.
The so-called “Spanish road” had previously been one of the more minor migrant routes but since the shutdown of the Balkan route in 2015 and 2016 and the of the central Mediterranean route by Italian interior ninister Matteo Salvini, Spain has become the main migrant hub in Europe.
Since the beginning of 2018, around 50,000 migrants have entered Spain illegally from Morocco, either across the straits of Gibraltar or into Spain’s North African enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla.
Spain’s North African enclaves have seen several instances of migrants storming the fences and even injuring police officers. In July, around 800 migrants stormed Ceuta and attacked police with quicklime and makeshift flamethrowers, injuring 15 officers.
The French-Spanish border has also seen a total of 6,000 migrants caught by authorities attempting to get into France illegally from January to November of this year.
Amalia Oca, who works for a pro-migrant NGO in the area, said that most of the migrants come from Mali and Guinea but also noted that she had seen Yemeni, Egyptian, and Eritrean migrants as well.
The increase in mass migration into Spain has also begun to shift the political scene, with the populist VOX party now polling near 10 per cent after years in the low single digits.
Earlier this month the party won 11 per cent of the vote in Andalusia’s regional elections and became the third-largest party in the Andalusian province of Almería.