Spain unveils measures to ‘put people’s rights first’ in migration policies

Spain’s new center-left government unveiled a series of measures Friday to “put people's rights first” in migration policies, AP reported. The new cabinet took the first steps toward extending public health care to foreigners without residence permits, Education Minister Isabel Celaa said, adding that the government would have a decree ready in six weeks. The government also planned to assess how to remove – “without losing any security” – the barbed wire capping the border fences of Ceuta and Melilla, the two Spanish enclaves in North Africa. The fences are often stormed by scores of migrants trying to reach Spanish territory from Africa. The moves showed a sharp break between new Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and his predecessor, Mariano Rajoy, whose conservative administration had a stricter approach on migration. Rajoy had blocked free health care for some migrants in 2012 as a cost-cutting measure, and his government refused to remove the barbed wire border fences.