The migration crisis in Ceuta: between reality and political management

For more than two weeks the Government offered its inflexible face in the face of the avalanche of migrants arriving in Ceuta. The priority was supposed to be to plug the border and this required guaranteeing Morocco's collaboration and warning those who tried to enter illegally that they would be immediately returned. In that scheme, humanitarian care did not appear anywhere. Three weeks after the assault on the border, it is evident that thousands of migrants remain in the city, making it imperative to assist them with their basic needs. Meanwhile, political falsehoods are being spread while many unknowns persist.

We do not know, nor will we probably find out, to what extent Morocco let more than 70,000 people cross the border or in exchange for what it then decided to prevent another assault and collaborate in the readmission of the majority. We also do not know, and the Government must clarify, if signs were detected before and what went wrong in prevention.

To what is not known we must add what is said for political convenience. In the same way that it was impossible to guarantee the return of all migrants, it is also impossible to manage in a few weeks the situations of the thousands who have remained in Ceuta. It is suspected that the number of minors in the city could approach 4,000 and it is almost impossible to return them to those who often do not want to receive them. Territorial solidarity will be essential. To this we must add the thousands of asylum seekers, whose requests will not be resolved immediately. All of this will not be solved by planting extremely temporary tents and the better the conditions in which these people are, the less inconvenience will be for the residents of Ceuta. It will also be inevitable that many of the adults who have risked their lives to get to Ceuta will manage to jump to the Peninsula, no matter how much the Government assures its European partners that this will not happen.

Moncloa seeks impossible balances so as not to cloud relations with Morocco, with Ceuta, the EU and public opinion. Promising total return, encapsulating the crisis in the city or proposing temporary solutions by virtue of a rapid return to normality is, unfortunately, denying the evidence.