Spain’s Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska on Friday called for deportations of migrants — suspended amid the coronavirus pandemic — to resume, after meeting his counterpart in Morocco. Arrivals of migrants have soared in Spain’s Canary Islands, off the west coast of Morocco, with more than 18,000 arriving from Africa so far this year, more than 10 times the number seen in the same period of 2019, according to Spanish interior ministry data. Grande-Marlaska, who met with Moroccan Interior Minister Abdelouafi Laftit, ruled out the transfer of migrants to mainland Spain, a suggestion made earlier this week by local authorities in the Canary Islands. — AFP
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