So far in 2006 about five thousand boat people (all figures are guesses except for the number caught by police) of West African origin, mostly Malians and Senegalese, have left the Mauritanian coast near Nouadibuh for the western Canary Islands, an integral part of Spain and of the EU. Illegal immigrants used to try to cross the Mediterranean from Morocco to Spain, or to make the short passage from the southwestern Morocco coast to the eastern Canary Islands. However, there are now so many patrols that such voyages are rarely attempted. Instead, they sail out into the open sea and then hope to catch the current up to the western Canaries, a journey of more than 1000 nautical miles, in primitive wooden Mauritanian open fishing boats. Spanish authorities have caught over 3000 of them, and are now in the process of deporting them back to Africa. Maybe 1000 made the Canaries without getting caught, and took commercial flights from there to the European mainland. At least 1000, and possibly as many as 2000, have died at sea from drowning or exposure or thirst, according to official estimates.

This is a first-class humanitarian tragedy, and the international media is nowhere on it.

And it's only going to get worse, as there are 10-15,000 people, almost all young men, waiting near Nouadibuh for their turn. A lot of these people are going to die.

The Spanish Socialist government, always solidarious, has begun deporting the illegal immigrants they've caught to Mauretania, not their home country but the one they left from. Spanish troops entered Mauretania with permission last Tuesday in order to construct a camp near Nouadibuh to house the deportees, who will apparently be shipped back to their home countries from there. However, the first group of some 300 deportees sent back were not sent to the camp, which will be supervised by the Red Cross.

I can't say that I have the perfect answer for the problem of illegal immigration either. Apparently in the States there have been a series of demonstrations in favor of amnesty for illegals. I wouldn't mind some sort of deal giving illegals who have been in the US for a few years the right to stay; the Zapatero government did something of the sort last year, legalizing well over half a million illegals here in Spain. The standard criticism of the Zapatero amnesty was that it would attract more illegals in the hope of another amnesty, and I don't really know whether the criticism is correct or not.  Something sure seems to be attracting the boat people to the Canaries.

Immigration has done a lot for Barcelona. It's multicultural now, and ten years ago it was monocultural. You see Third World immigrants most often a) working construction b) opening restaurants c) taking care of old folks d) opening corner shops, all of which are obviously positive for the city. A good few are working in sweatshops, though, and far too many have become prostitutes, whether of their own will or not. They also sell flowers in the bars and restaurants, which is fine, and pirate CDs and DVDs, which is questionable at best. There are plenty of First World immigrants, too, mostly Brits and French. They're all graphic designers or something artsy.

One thing you also see a lot of is street crimes committed by a bunch of Moroccan homeless kids. I don't know what to do with these little bas--uh, fellow human beings who have had a tough life, it's true, but that doesn't give them the right to victimize others. Lock 'em up, I suppose.

Romanian gypsies have also been trouble. The cops have busted a bunch of them here in Barcelona who were using their kids, some 35 of them, to pickpocket, steal, rob, and intimidate. They've committed more than 600 crimes. The kids are all under 14 and are therefore immune from prosecution, and so it took the cops more than two years to put together a case against their parents. I don't know what to do in this case, either; I would certainly remove custody of the kids from the families, which I suppose they're going to do anyway since the parents are going to jail. The problem with these little, uh, fellow human beings who have obviously had a rough life, is that I'm not sure we have a place to send them. Jails for eight-year-olds? You can't exactly put them in a foster home, they'd burn down the place and flee. Deport them back to Romania? That certainly wouldn't be too enlightened.