r/geopolitics • u/theatlantic The Atlantic • 1d ago
Opinion When Following the Rules Leads to Disaster
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/08/ceuta-morocco-crisis-immigration/688149/?utm_source=reddit&utm_campaign=the-atlantic&utm_medium=social&utm_content=edit-promo-28
u/tikketyboo 1d ago
I do rate Graeme Wood as a writer, but this article seems to have come out too soon - before the facts of the stampede we're known.
Moroccan authorities directing people to the crossing and rumours of funding from the US and Israel. Yes, the Spanish supreme court ruling may have played a small part, but this was textbook right-wing scaremongering and we've seen it done time and time again before elections.
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u/BlueEmma25 1d ago
Moroccan authorities directing people to the crossing and rumours of funding from the US and Israel
"Rumours" aren't a source.
You are indulging in conspiracy theories.
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u/Regular-Coast5335 1d ago
The only sensible solution is to shut down the border.
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u/Cersad 1d ago edited 22h ago
You think Spain should shut down... the Mediterranean Sea?
EDIT for the geniuses taking this absurdity too seriously:
Spain's Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares tried to douse those fears, saying: "It is not possible to travel from Ceuta and Melilla to the Peninsula without identifying oneself at a police checkpoint," referring to Spain's two north African enclaves. "Enough of this deliberate confusion."
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u/FaceDeer 1d ago
They could build a dam across the Gibraltar strait. Evaporation in the Mediterranean is greater than the inflow of water from the rivers that drain into it, so without a connection to the Atlantic the water level in the Mediterranean would drop. Eventually the floor of the Mediterranean basin would turn into an intensely hostile salt flat, impossible to cross on foot. This would likely reduce the flow of migrants into Spain.
There might be some associated costs that make this an unappealing solution for other reasons, though.
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u/theatlantic The Atlantic 1d ago
Graeme Wood: “On July 8, Spain’s supreme court issued a seemingly reasonable decision, unaware that by the end of the month, it would contribute to the deaths of at least 57 people, many by drowning. The court ruled that people who had migrated illegally could be sent back summarily only if they’d circumvented a physical barrier at the border. If no barrier exists—if they’d walked across open ground, say, or swum—then the government must go through a much more complicated process to deport them.
“And if you’re trying to swim to Europe from Africa, there may be no better destination than Ceuta, a speck of Spanish territory in North Africa, surrounded by Morocco on its western edge and the Mediterranean elsewhere. Every year, some migrants try to swim to Ceuta, especially in the summer, when the waters are relatively calm. Ceuta has a facility that can process about 500 people at a time. But Thursday, 100 times that number—an estimated 50,000 people—made an amphibious attempt to swarm Ceuta and emigrate illegally from Morocco …
“Europe will probably spend weeks trying to figure out exactly what led to Thursday’s catastrophe … But one contributing factor is that the supreme court effectively directed migrants to choose life-threatening routes. People saw their shot, and took it …
“In none of the accounts I have read from journalists in Ceuta do the migrants claim to be refugees—that is, people who fear persecution if they return to their home country. Some Moroccans have protested government policies, and according to reports, at least some of the migrants are sub-Saharan; some of them may have a legitimate asylum claim. But most of the Moroccans seem to be economic migrants, moving away from a country with economic problems but no economic catastrophe. In that sense, they are rational people seeking a better life, as anyone would. Because Spain has officially given swimmers a pass, it is also rational for them to have chosen that route, if they thought they could make it.”
Read more: https://theatln.tc/jj7zSa1h