Spain’s main opposition urges government to deploy navy to block migrants

OVIEDO, Spain

The spokesperson of Spain’s main opposition party urged on Thursday the government to deploy the navy to block migrants from reaching Spain by sea.

“The government has the armed forces at its disposal to defend our borders and launch ships that can prevent cayucos [small wooden migrant ships] from putting people’s lives at risk, going out to sea and reaching our country,” Miguel Tellado, spokesperson for the conservative Popular Party, told Spanish broadcaster Antena 3.

Deploying the navy to block migration has been a proposal of the far-right party Vox for years. However, this is the first time the center-right Popular Party has pushed for the policy, according to Spanish daily El Pais.

Tellado on Wednesday also called on the government to “ask the EU for help” and “deal with the problem of irregular immigration in the countries of origin, so the migrant ships don’t leave to begin with.”

From Jan.1 to June 30 of this year, nearly 25,000 migrants had reached Spain irregularly — twice as many as during the same period last year.

Of all the arrivals, almost 19,300 made the treacherous maritime journey from the north-western coast of Africa to the Spanish Canary Islands, representing a jump of 167% compared to 2023.

Earlier this week, the government of the island of Lanzarote declared a state of social emergency due to its inability to host the influx of migrants, which is only expected to pick up over the coming weeks and months.

Last week, Spain’s foreign minister traveled to Gambia and Senegal to discuss the surge in migration.

Alberto Nunez Feijoo, head of Spain’s Popular Party, met on Wednesday his conservative peers, including EU Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen at a working meeting in Portugal.

There, he asked for the help of the EU to “control the immigration” to stop the immigration flows toward Europe through deals with countries of origin.

As a response, Spain’s Youth Minister Sira Rego accused the party of getting close to the far-right agenda and minimizing the role of human rights.

Within Spain, the far-right party Vox, which governs in coalition with the Popular Party in several Spanish regions, has threatened to split with the conservatives if they accept the government’s proposal to take in unaccompanied foreign minors from the Canary Islands.