Morocco Police Arrest Hundreds of Illegal Migrants

Thousands of sub-Saharan migrants trek north through the desert and pay traffickers for passage to Europe to escape poverty at home.

Moroccan security forces rounded up hundreds of illegal migrants in the past week and left many of them on the border with Algeria, aid workers said on Wednesday.

Near Nador on Morocco's north coast, police arrested over 100 migrants as they prepared to board boats for Spain. Others were detained at a university campus in the eastern town of Oujda frequented by migrants arriving from Algeria.

"The police attacked the campus at 4 a.m. and arrested about 26 people," said Hicham Baraka, head of local development association ABCDS. "They were dumped at the Algerian border."

Morocco's government confirmed a total of 512 arrests of would-be illegal migrants across the country so far this month, of which 91 were Moroccans, state news agency MAP said.

Thousands of sub-Saharan migrants trek north through the desert and pay traffickers for passage to Europe on overcrowded boats to escape poverty at home.

Tightened border controls have made it harder for them to enter Europe from the south, leaving tens of thousands stranded in poverty in north Africa.

Migrant support groups have accused the European Union of pressuring Maghreb governments to expel the migrants and failing to produce promised aid to help them find alternative livelihoods.