Portugal lets in Moroccan workers, hopes to stop traffickers

LISBON, Portugal (AP) — Portugal and Morocco have signed an agreement setting out legal guidelines for Moroccans to live and work in the European Union country. It is part of an effort by the two countries to fight illegal migration and human trafficking. The deal came after fears that undocumented migrants seeking a way into the EU were increasingly targeting Portugal. Boats carrying African migrants from Morocco have arrived in recent years on the southern Portuguese coast. Authorities feared smugglers were testing Portuguese border controls amid a European crackdown on migrants in the Mediterranean Sea and high fatalities on the sea route between Africa and Spain’s Canary Islands.