Illegal immigrants used as runway models

MADRID, Spain -- A Spanish fashion designer used illegal African immigrants as models in a Barcelona fashion show to draw attention to the plight of thousands of poor migrants who embark on dangerous sea expeditions for a chance at better lives in Europe.\nEight Senegalese immigrants paraded down the catwalk in white and beige outfits Thursday as part of the show, which also featured a white wooden fishing boat -- the same type many illegal immigrants use to reach Spain's Canary Islands off west Africa.\nAntonio Miro, the fashion designer, used inmates as models in a show last year. He said in Thursday's show he wanted to show his support for the immigrants, some of whom were in the process of obtaining working papers in Spain and some of whom were illegal.\n"It's a way of giving them a tiny bit of me," Miro said.\nThe eight models were paid a small fee, he said.\nBut a group representing Senegalese immigrants in Spain criticized the show, saying it might inspire more people to make the risky sea voyage. Many Africans die along the way.\n"Every day there are mothers who weep for their sons lost at sea," said Abdoulaye Konate of the group AISE. "It's not the best idea to give work to these eight illegal immigrants."\nAbout 31,000 migrants fleeing poverty in Africa reached the Canary Islands by boat in 2006, almost as many arrivals as in the previous four years combined. The immigrants are sent back to their home countries if Spain has a repatriation accord with them, but many end up on the streets on the European mainland.\nThe vast majority of immigrants leave the west African coast bound for the Canary Islands in crowded open boats called "cayucos," though others attempt to reach Spain's southern coast by crossing the Mediterranean from north Africa.\nA non-governmental organization that advocates for immigrants in Spain praised Miro's idea of using the Senegalese in the show.\n"As long as it is done in good taste, fashion is a form of expression like the cinema or painting," said Javier Perez of the group SOS Racismo. "It's good that not only NGOs denounce the situation the immigrants are going through when they come by boat to Spain"