The massive arrival of people to the coasts of Ceuta through the Tarajal breakwater, right on the border with Morocco, evidences a new migration crisis in the autonomous city. The images of May 2021 are repeating, when thousands of people did the same and overwhelmed emergency and reception services. The arrivals had intensified in the last two weeks, but this Thursday, first at midday and then in the early afternoon in a flow that does not cease, hundreds of people have swum across to the autonomous city.
The massive influx has already left at least 15 dead.
TVE cameras captured some of these moments this Thursday, in which hundreds of people can be seen arriving in our country under the watchful eye of Civil Guard agents. Likewise, another of the most notable images is that of a door near the border that opens and gives way to dozens of people, who begin to run through the city.
On the enclave’s beaches, one can observe all the items left behind by migrants in their wake: floaties, swim fins, and some wetsuits. Most are young men, but women with babies and minors have also crossed. In many cases, when they manage to cross the border, they leave behind everything they were carrying and head to reception centers and emergency points to be attended to.
According to the president of Ceuta, Juan Jesús Vivas, the number of arrivals has increased in recent days. On average, nearly 300 people have crossed by swimming and using floats from Morocco. He also highlighted that the number of fatalities due to this situation continues to rise: more than 60 people have already died at sea in the last 12 months. This Thursday, the bodies of at least ten people who were trying to reach the coast were recovered.
The pressure has been constant throughout the day and this afternoon, as reported by Europa Press, numerous people have managed to break through the police cordon deployed earlier this afternoon in the El Tarajal area, on the Spanish side, to contain the massive entry of migrants. After overcoming the checkpoint, they headed into the autonomous city.
The Supreme Court ruling on migrants arriving by swimming
What is the origin of this new crisis? The Ministry of the Interior believes that human trafficking networks are instrumentalizing a Supreme Court ruling to encourage the flow of undocumented migrants, mostly young people. The fifth section of the Contentious-Administrative Chamber ruled on July 8 that the Immigration Law does not allow for the application of border rejection, known as summary returns (devoluciones en caliente), to migrants intercepted at sea. In other words, the common administrative procedure must be applied to them.
The Supreme Court ruling, the result of an appeal filed by an Algerian immigrant, was widely shared on social media in Morocco, which reportedly pushed dozens of people to attempt to reach Spain by swimming.
