A national emergency has been declared in Ceuta, a Spanish territory on the tip of Africa, after some 60,000 migrants from Morocco crossed the border over the past several weeks.
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Video shows hordes of men smiling and posing for cameras, some carrying swimming flippers, and sprinting through the streets as authorities struggle to corral the unruly masses. Other footage shows crowds of migrants emerging from the sea, climbing up onto Ceuta’s rocky shores and working their way around border fences.
The backstory:
The massive influx of migrants comes after Spain launched an “extraordinary regularization” program earlier this year allowing eligible undocumented migrants already living in Spain to obtain legal residence and work authorization, with the government saying the policy promotes economic integration, while critics describe it as a mass amnesty.
Dig deeper:
On Thursday, Ceuta President Juan Jesús Vivas formally requested that Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez declare a national emergency to help respond to the border crisis, Spanish media outlets reported. Madrid, however, denied the request.
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What they’re saying:
“The declaration of a national emergency is part of the state civil protection regulations, which do not consider migratory flows as a risk to the National Civil Protection System, nor do they establish special plans, basic guidelines, or specific civil protection instruments for their management. Therefore, it is not possible to activate this mechanism, as requested by the president of the Government of Ceuta, Juan Jesús Vivas,” Spain’s Ministry of the Interior said in a statement, according to Spanish outlet El Pais.
The other side:
Ceuta’s government, in their request for a national emergency declaration, noted that immigration from Morocco is always a problem for the Spanish enclave, but claimed the last 10 days represented a peak “of particular intensity.” That peak has seen about 60,000 migrants cross the border in the past 10 days.
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