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Article: WESTERN EUROPE ROLLS UP WELCOME MAP INFLUX OF MUSLIM IMMIGRANTS STIRS XENOPHOBIA.(Main)
- Article from:
- Albany Times Union (Albany, NY)
- Article date:
- May 7, 1989
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1989 Albany Times Union. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Byline: Tyler Marshall Los Angeles Times
They come at night, braving the treacherous strait in leaky 20- foot fishing boats called pateras.
Paying up to $1,700 for the nine-mile illegal crossing to Europe's southernmost tip, many Moroccans ante up their life savings, gambling on a brighter future in a land rich beyond their dreams.
Occasionally, winds and currents in the Strait of Gibraltar swamp the overloaded boats, tipping their human cargoes into the sea and to almost certain death.
Occasionally, the Moroccans are caught by Spanish authorities and returned.
But with luck, they reach the shadowy networks that smuggle them ...