A total of 561,690 Latin Americans, the majority from Argentina and Ecuador, entered Spain last year, with just 88,986 of them returning. Some 128,312 one-way tickets were purchased by Argentines, with a mere 18,742 returning.
Interior minister Angel Acebes said the phenomenon might be explained by the fact that many of the Latin Americans visited Spain on business and returned from other countries in Europe. Police sources disagree: they reckon the majority stay in Spain and many of these have taken up illegal residence. The increase in Argentines, they say, could be explained by last year's economic and financial crisis.
The Spanish government has tightened the law on aliens to include an obligation on the part of airlines to report passengers who do not have return tickets.
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