Some 60,000 migrants entered Spain’s Ceuta from Morocco in the past 24 hours, Ceuta’s president Juan Jesus Vivas confirmed Friday, in a border surge that is equivalent to 70 percent of the city’s regular population and that has left at least 34 people dead. “The situation that Ceuta is going through is absolutely unsustainable,” Vivas said, which is the statement of a local official whose city has just received a population equivalent to more than two-thirds of its residents in a single day.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez condemned the breach of the border on Friday, speaking from Ceuta and describing the events as “a violation of Spain’s territorial integrity,” which is the language Sanchez chose over the word migration, and which is the word choice that positions the event as an act perpetrated against Spain rather than as people attempting to enter Europe. Both descriptions are available. Sanchez chose the sovereignty framing, which is either accurate and appropriate or a politically convenient characterization of a humanitarian crisis, depending on which part of the political spectrum you consult.
The border crisis escalated Thursday and continued Friday, with security forces clashing with migrants on the Moroccan side of the border. Morocco’s ambassador to Spain expressed hope that those who crossed would return, describing the situation as having unfolded “against Morocco’s wishes,” which is the explanation that positions the surge as something Morocco could not stop rather than something Morocco allowed. European migration observers have noted that Morocco has historically used migration flow as a diplomatic pressure mechanism during periods of tension with Spain, which is the context that Sanchez’s “territorial integrity” language is implicitly invoking.
Ceuta is a Spanish autonomous city on the northern coast of Africa, separated from mainland Spain by the Strait of Gibraltar and bordering Morocco. It is one of two Spanish enclaves in Africa, the other being Melilla. They are the only land borders between the European Union and Africa. Whenever Europe’s border policy becomes the dominant political question, Ceuta is where the policy becomes a body count.
At least 34 people died in the crossing. The city has received 60,000 new arrivals. The situation is, per the city’s president, absolutely unsustainable.
When 60,000 people enter a city whose entire population is 85,000 in one day and 34 of them die in the process, what exactly is the border policy producing?
Sources
HuffPost: 60,000 Cross Into Spanish Territory Of Ceuta And At Least 34 Die After Border Breach
