Five open wooden boats crammed with 200 people were spotted just off a beach at Tarifa, the southernmost point on mainland Europe. Under a law to be passed this autumn, a further 80,000 could be thrown out. In the past 18months 100,000, mainly Albanians, have been repatriated. There are now so many illegal immigrants in Greece that state radio broadcasts in 12 languages. Greek authorities say there are at least 600,000 illegal immigrants in the country.
Many migrants never make it.
Jose Chamizo, the ombudsman for southern Spain, estimates that more than 1000 have died during the crossing in the past two years. Most of their bodies are swept out into the Atlantic and never recovered. Spain now has 750,000 immigrants with legal status and at least 250,000 more seeking permission to stay. Tens of thousands of others have either made it to northern Europe or disappeared into the labor black market. Plans were revealed last month for an electronic eye that would put the entire length of the Spanish coastline under surveillance by the year 2004 using a chain of radar towers.