Rejected by Italy and Malta, a migrant rescue ship made it to safe harbor in Spain

Aquarius rescue ship carrying migrants arrives at the Port of Valencia on June 17, 2018 in Valencia, Spain.
(Image credit: Pablo Blazquez Dominguez/Getty Images)

A rescue boat carrying hundreds of migrants, most of them Sub-Saharan Africans, docked in Spain Sunday after being denied permission to dock in Italy by the country's new populist coalition government, elected in part because of anger over the effects of the European Union's asylum policy. Malta also rejected the ship.

Managed by Doctors Without Borders (MSF) and another aid group called SOS Mediterranee, the Aquarius initially headed to Italy after rescuing migrants off the coast of Libya. The journey from its intended docking point to Spain took a week, and several other ships, including an Italian coast guard boat, took on some of the 629 migrants to make the trip safer.

"This sad odyssey of the people on the Aquarius is another reminder that all people, regardless of their nationality or immigration status, should have access to basic assistance and protection," said Red Cross Secretary General Elhadj As Sy, who was on hand for the ship's arrival. "No human being is 'illegal,' and people who need help should receive help."

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Bonnie Kristian

Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.