Spain’s foreign minister revealed that U.S. President Donald Trump suggested building a wall along the Sahara desert to stem the arrival of migrants, as he plans to do on the Mexican border.
“Closing ports is not a solution, and neither is building a wall along the Sahara like President Trump suggested to me recently,” Josep Borrell told a lunchtime gathering this week, according to a video released by Spanish media.
“‘Just build a wall that borders the Sahara’,” he quoted Trump as telling him.
“‘But do you know how big the Sahara is?’,” the minister responded.
He did not give any further details.
Police in the desert town of Jaghbub have found bodies of three Egyptian illegal immigrants who tried to cross the desert into #Libya.#Egypt pic.twitter.com/P2TwOdCe78
— The Libya Observer (@Lyobserver) September 19, 2018
The reported comments come as E.U. leaders are locked in talks in Salzburg over how to deal with the number of migrants arriving in Europe.
Spain is at the frontline of this issue, having overtaken Italy to become the number one point of entry for migrants coming to Europe by sea or by land from Africa.
Many of these cross the Sahara to Morocco and on to Spain across the Mediterranean or over two high fences into the Spanish overseas territories of Ceuta and Melilla in northern Morocco.
Trump’s proposed wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, which spans 3,200 kilometers (2,000 miles), could cost up to $20 billion (17 billion euros) according to some estimates.
The Sahara desert, meanwhile, spans all of northern Africa from the Red Sea in the east to the Atlantic Ocean in the west, or close to 5,000 kilometers.
Donald Trump suggested building a wall across the SAHARA to solve Europe’s migrant crisis, Spanish minster reveals https://t.co/kmgbRYtLpi
— Glenn Kessler (@GlennKesslerWP) September 19, 2018
