Shunned by Italy, Migrants at Sea Begin Arriving in Spain

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The Italian Navy vessel the Dattilo docked shortly before 7 a.m. local time in Valencia, Spain, with about 270 migrants aboard.CreditHeino Kalis/Reuters

By Raphael Minder

June 17, 2018

MADRID — Hundreds of migrants who had been rescued at sea but were stranded for a week after being turned away by Italy and Malta landed in Spain on Sunday, as the first of three ships reached the port of Valencia.

About 270 migrants were aboard the Dattilo, an Italian Navy vessel, which docked shortly before 7 a.m. local time. An additional 356 migrants, including pregnant women and children, aboard two other ships — the Aquarius and the Orione — were expected to reach the port later on Sunday.

The Aquarius originally picked up the migrants from six rubber dinghies in the Mediterranean Sea off Libya last week.

The landing in Valencia opens a new chapter in a saga that began last Sunday, when Italy’s new populist government followed through on anti-immigration campaign promises by refusing to let the Aquarius dock at an Italian port.

Italy’s interior minister and the leader of the anti-immigrant League, Matteo Salvini, had argued that “an army of fake refugees” had long exploited what he called the country’s lax rules.

That left the ship, which at the time was overburdened with more than 600 migrants, stranded at sea in dangerous conditions.

Spanish medical staff carried out preliminary health checks on the migrants at Valencia’s port.CreditAlberto Saiz/Associated Press

The migrants will be granted a special humanitarian permit to stay for one month in Spain while the authorities review their cases and give them medical attention. The Spanish government said it would review each of the 630 migrants’ cases to decide whether they would be granted asylum. Those who do not fulfill the criteria would face deportation.

The fate of the Aquarius has underlined the deep divisions in Europe over how to handle an influx of migrants from the Middle East and Africa. The Aquarius was also refused the right to dock in Malta.

Italy’s decision in particular drew a furious reaction from humanitarian groups and from other European countries. Spain brought an end to the standoff when its new Socialist government offered to let the migrants land there instead.

During the standoff, Italy allowed emergency services to board the Aquarius to check on the migrants, who were crammed on board. The Italian government also sent two navy ships to escort the Aquarius to Spain and to help transport the migrants in order to reduce overcrowding.

The Aquarius is operated by European humanitarian groups, including Doctors Without Borders.

Mr. Salvini had cast his government’s turning away of the Aquarius as a political victory. His party campaigned on promises to expel hundreds of thousands of migrants and to prevent new arrivals from landing on Italian shores.

Spain’s new Socialist prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, said his government’s decision to let the refugees land was an “obligation to avoid a human catastrophe.”

Even as the Aquarius migrants reached safety in Valencia after their week at sea, others faced a similar ordeal.

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The populist Italian government refused to allow a rescue boat carrying hundreds of migrants from across Africa to dock in the country. Spain later offered to accept the ship.Published OnJune 11, 2018CreditImage by Karpov, via Reuters

Mr. Salvini warned on his Facebook page on Saturday that “two other ships with the flag of Netherlands — Lifeline and Seefuchs — have arrived off the coast of Libya, waiting for their load of human beings abandoned by the smugglers.”

He said Italy would block those other rescue ships, too, writing: “These gentlemen know that Italy no longer wants to be complicit in the business of illegal immigration, and therefore will have to look for other ports (not Italian) where to go.”

On Sunday morning, Spanish medical staff boarded the Dattilo to carry out preliminary health checks just as the ship reached its assigned dock at Valencia’s port. Spanish police officers started registering the first migrants, who were allowed to disembark.

The first migrant who completed the registration process was a 29-year-old man from Sudan, according to Spanish news reports.

Some of the migrants are expected to be transferred to France, after the government of President Emmanuel Macron announced that passengers from the Aquarius who wished to resettle in France would be welcomed.

The arrival of the Aquarius also coincided with the rescue of almost 1,000 migrants off the southern coast of Spain over the weekend. The migrants were picked up by the country’s maritime rescue ships as they were trying to cross the waters separating Morocco from Spain in dozens of dinghies.

“Spain faces an avalanche of migrants due to the call effect,” a headline in ABC, a Spanish right-wing newspaper, said on Sunday.