Comment: The Hypocrisy Surrounding the Migration Crisis in Spanish Ceuta

A migration crisis erupted in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta on the border with Morocco, when as many as 50,000 people attempted to storm the border at once. The author of this commentary points out that such an event could not have happened spontaneously — this was clearly an organized mass border crossing.

Spain does deserve criticism on several counts: authorities failed to install barriers in the water, and, more importantly, the security services dropped the ball, failing to detect preparations for an operation of this scale. False rumors circulated on social media claiming that Spain would not send back migrants who reached the country by sea.

That said, calls to immediately expel Spain from the Schengen free-movement zone are populist and largely nonsensical, however appealing they may sound to frightened voters. Ceuta and Melilla operate under special rules: it is simply impossible to leave the enclaves without a valid Schengen visa or EU citizenship documents being checked.

Many dislike Spain's social-democratic, pro-Israel government, which has legalized the status of a significant number of migrants, mostly from Latin America. Still, the author argues that the criticism aimed at Madrid smacks of hypocrisy: other countries have likewise struggled to cope with similar waves of migration, and Spain, it seems, has actually managed to keep the situation under control — migrants were not able to move from the enclave onto the Spanish mainland.

The author stresses that as long as living standards in Europe remain higher than in Africa, the root cause of migration cannot be eliminated — people will always seek a better life. They will only give up on that dream if living conditions in Europe become worse than in African countries, something nobody genuinely wants.

Rather than expressing outrage, it's worth acknowledging an uncomfortable truth: many companies and entrepreneurs, especially in the services sector, actually need migrants — they fill labor shortages cheaply. Being in the country illegally or semi-legally, such workers agree to work for a pittance under harsh conditions, which is precisely why goods and services end up cheaper.

Large companies, meanwhile, wash their hands of the matter: they don't hire workers directly but instead rely on agencies that supply personnel. Many of these so-called "staffing agencies" engage in dubious practices and exploit workers, yet no serious measures have ever been taken against them — a shut-down agency simply reopens under a new name, run by the same people.

According to the author, nothing will change until strict sanctions are imposed both on the owners of such agencies and on the companies that use their services. But no one truly wants that, since it would drive up the price of goods and services.

Another possible approach would be tightening control over money flows: limiting cash payments, requiring people to hold bank accounts, and restricting anonymous money-transfer services — especially cross-border ones — that migrants use to support their families back home. Instead of taking real action, such as cracking down on human smuggling and pressuring countries of origin, Moroccan police showed remarkable leniency. And while everyone argues over how to punish Spain, the gangs behind human trafficking can only laugh at the whole debate.

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Around Prague, based on reporting by novinky.cz