Written by Michael Thervil

[CEUTA SPAIN MOROCCO MIGRANTS] With some reports reporting that an estimated 50,000 to 60,000 migrants from the North Africa country of Morocco to Ceuta, Spain within the last day, overwhelmed law enforcement and led to at least 41 deaths and clashes with law enforcement agencies in Spain. Analysts point to the fact that the number of migrants that stormed into Ceuta is akin to 70% of the current population that’s currently residing in Ceuta. Law enforcement dressed in riot gear as a show of force deployed the use of water cannons to repel the surging migrants. While roughly half of the migrants have turned back to re-enter Morocco, the other half are still attempting to push their way into Ceuta. While Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez is placing the blame on human smugglers and traffickers, others are pointing to the fact that many of the migrants are victims of what Sociologist’s call “Forced Migration”.

Typically Forced Migration occurs when residents or citizens of a city or country are forced to leave their homes due to variables outside their control, such as natural disasters, war, and ethnic cleansing. However, in the case of the migrants fleeing Morocco and rushing to the border of Ceuta; they are forced to migrate because of the dire socio-economic situation that presently adversely affects the people of Morocco. According to current datasets, many migrants consist of young adults. For Moroccan citizens that are seeking to leave their home country, they are seeking to relocate to Ceuta, in hopes of finding better socio-economic conditions. It was reported that many migrants were unsuccessful in securing a better socio-economic outcome.

Another variable that has seemed to fuel and serve as an incentive for Moroccan citizens to migrate to Ceuta, was due to the recent judicial ruling by Spain's supreme court that ruled that migrants that enter the country, legally or illegally, cannot be deported back to their country of origin. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez is taking the position that human smugglers and traffickers either misinterpreted or engaged in misinformation to garner people to the border of Ceuta and calling the mass forced migration a “violation of Spain’s territorial integrity”.

In an abundance of caution, European authorities have made moves to restrict freedom of movement, a move that some are calling a violation of the Schengen agreement which was a treaty that was established in 1985 that allowed citizens of Europe to travel between 29 European countries without routine identity checks. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni stated to the Press that Italy is ready “to intervene with extraordinary measures to defend the borders and the safety of citizens, including the suspension of the Schengen Area with Spain.” Taking even more of a political turn, French political candidate Parliamentary leader of the national rally in the national assembly Marine Le Pen stated if elected next year, she would put legal processes in place to restrict free movement to Europeans only.