'Not Morocco, please': The human stories behind Spain's migrant crisis
Thousands of migrants recently crossed into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta from Morocco, leading to a humanitarian crisis and overwhelming local authorities. While many have voluntarily returned, the event highlights the desperate conditions driving migration.
Why it matters
The influx illustrates the ongoing geopolitical and humanitarian challenges at the borders between Africa and the European Union.
Spain faced a crisis as thousands of exhausted migrants from Morocco found their way onto Spanish soil barefoot, drenched and clutching waterproof pouches containing their mobile phones.The unprecedented influx into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta transformed the city of 84,000 residents within hours, with parks turning into makeshift sleeping grounds, beaches filling and authorities struggling to cope with one of the largest border crossings in the enclave's history, according to Spanish newspaper El País.Many of those crossing had spent hours swimming around the border breakwater or drifting on inflatable inner tubes under the cover of darkness. As they reached shore, some embraced the ground, kissed the ground and called their families to say they had survived the journey."Work, work.
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