Spain is worried by a surge in young migrants from Morocco. According to data provided by EU border agency Frontex, 40 percent of the migrants who reached Spain's coasts in 2017 hailed from Morocco and Algeria.
The exodus of young migrants from Morocco, which is not just caused by unemployment and poverty, is worrying Spain. Data provided by EU border agency Frontex said 40 percent of migrants who reached Spain's coasts in 2017 were Moroccan and Algerian nationals. And their number is rising in 2018, according to a report released by the interior ministry and published by newspaper El Pais.
Out of a reported 33,215 immigrants who reached Spain illegally since the start of the year, as of mid-September, 6,433 were Moroccan citizens, the report said. Migrants leave due to lack of work, a crackdown on social protests in the Rif region in the spring-summer of last year, as well as the recent announcement that the military draft - suspended in 2006 - would be resumed for men and women aged 19 to 25.
Unemployment, low salaries main causes
Spanish media quoted a young Moroccan migrant as saying that ''extremely high unemployment, the rising price of food and fuel and low salaries'' were the reasons why most were leaving. In spite of Morocco's economic growth, young people are continuing to leave because there are no jobs, especially in disadvantaged areas like Rif and Jerada. However, the number of illegal migrants appears to be much higher: at least 250,000 as of last July, in addition to the estimated 773,000 living in Spain, according to estimates quoted by the local Efe news agency.
Young sunbathers in Tangiers urged to leave in viral videos
Meanwhile, videos circulating for over a week now have raised concern on the two shores of the Strait of Gibraltar. The videos show young beachgoers near Tangiers who are urged to board a motorboat traveling to Spain. The footage then shows dozens of youths in bathing suits who are leaving for Tarifa (Cadiz), singing the anthems of Spanish soccer teams. In another video, three Rif activists, who benefited from an amnesty by King Mohamed VI, are shown aboard a small boat in the middle of the sea as they sing: ''Better to die with dignity than live and be humiliated''. Another Facebook page, which is very popular among young Moroccans, guarantees a passage by sea to Spain for 7,000 dirhams, or 635 euros.
Morocco says it stopped 54,000 from leaving illegally
For its part, the Moroccan government vowed that it stopped 54,000 people from reaching Europe illegally from the start of the year and of dismantling 74 human trafficking networks. According to data released to the media by a spokesperson for the Moroccan government and minister for the relations with Parliament and civil society, Mustafa el Jalfi, 1,900 boats were seized over the same period. It is a ''large-scale offensive'' against thousands of migrants, asylum seekers and refugees, including people of sub Saharan origin, according to Amnesty International, which recently condemned operations in the north of the country, especially in Tangiers, Nador and Tetuan, against illegal migrants and the thousands of undocumented migrants who are waiting for an opportunity to cross the Strait of Gibraltar.
Rabat and Madrid have signed an agreement of bilateral readmissions in 1992, which came into effect in 2012. And the cooperation between border police units from the two countries is constant with joint patrols in Tangiers and Algeciras. However, even the threat of evictions and quick repatriation to the country of origin was not enough over the past few months to stem the constant flow of youths coming from Morocco to the neighboring country, the entry point to Europe.