Demands for Enhanced Border Security
In light of increasing concerns over illegal migration, Spanish political parties have renewed their calls for stricter border controls with Morocco. They emphasized the urgent need to close the Ceuta crossing should Morocco leverage migration as a means of 'blackmail' against Madrid and Europe. Reports from Spanish media indicate that the parliamentary group of the far-right party Vox has proposed amendments to the institutional declaration draft that the authorities in Ceuta intend to present to the city’s General Assembly. The party has advocated for heightened security measures at the border, categorizing illegal migration as a 'tool in the hybrid warfare against Spain', and has insisted that this perspective be explicitly included in the institutional declaration document.
Furthermore, Vox has urged for the management of the Tarajal crossing to be treated as an external border of the European Union, advocating for the elimination of any exceptional status currently governing its operation, which is based on special diplomatic arrangements between Morocco and Spain. This change aims to ensure that the same standards applied to other EU external borders are upheld at this crossing. In response to what the party describes as 'Moroccan blackmail', they have called on the Spanish government to immediately close the border crossing whenever Madrid perceives that Rabat is not adhering to bilateral agreements or is exerting 'political pressure or hybrid warfare' against Spain.
Legislative Proposals for Asylum and Border Control
In a related move, the Spanish People's Party has introduced a proposal to amend immigration regulations, aiming to provide legal grounds for the immediate return of irregular migrants who arrive by swimming to the cities of Ceuta and Melilla. The initiative seeks to amend the supplementary tenth article of the immigration law, considering the sea an extension of the land borders of Ceuta and Melilla, thus allowing security forces to immediately return migrants in a manner 'consistent with the law and all legal guarantees'. This proposal follows a ruling by the Spanish Supreme Court, which affirmed the legality of 'immediate returns' but limited it to land border checkpoints, asserting that the sea does not fall under the definition of 'physical borders' as outlined in existing legislation.
The party noted that human smuggling networks have increasingly relied on swimming routes to reach the cities rather than attempting to breach the border fencing. The proposed amendment aims to provide legal protection for Spanish security personnel operating in these cities, enabling them to execute immediate returns of migrants intercepted at sea. Recently, Ceuta has experienced a notable surge in attempts at illegal migration, the latest incident occurring last Tuesday when over 100 migrants attempted to swim to the city from Moroccan shores. Spanish media outlets reported warnings from civil guard sources regarding the escalating frequency of such attempts, cautioning that if the situation persists, it could lead to increased pressure on the city, particularly during the summer months.
As reported by aps.dz.
