African Migrants Pour into Spain's Canary Islands

By Jerome Socolovsky

Published September 6, 2006 at 5:00 AM CDT

A record-breaking wave of African migrants is inundating the Canary Islands. So far this year, more than 22,000 have reached the Atlantic archipelago that belongs to Spain. Nearly 800 poured in Tuesday, one of the busiest days ever. The migrants know that when they reach the Canary Islands, they are effectively in Europe.

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Jerome Socolovsky

Jerome Socolovsky is the Audio Storytelling Specialist for NPR Training. He has been a reporter and editor for more than two decades, mostly overseas. Socolovsky filed stories for NPR on bullfighting, bullet trains, the Madrid bombings and much more from Spain between 2002 and 2010. He has also been a foreign and international justice correspondent for The Associated Press, religion reporter for the Voice of America and editor-in-chief of Religion News Service. He won the Religion News Association's TV reporting award in 2013 and 2014 and an honorable mention from the Association of International Broadcasters in 2011. Socolovsky speaks five languages in addition to his native Spanish and English. He holds a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Pennsylvania, and graduate degrees from Hebrew University and the Harvard Kennedy School. He's also a sculler and a home DIY nut.