Going Down to the Wire

MELMOTH / AFP-GETTY IMAGES

Those held in Melilla could be sent back to Morocco

Desperate sub-Saharan Africans keep trying to reach a little slice of Spain — and, they hope, the chance of a better life — on the Moroccan coast. Patrolled by soldiers and surrounded by fences laced with razor wire, the Spanish enclaves of Melilla and Ceuta have offered would-be immigrants a one-way ticket to mainland Spain; people who got through were typically released in Spain after 40 days, since no repatriation agreements exist with their native countries. While Melilla and Ceuta have attracted African migrants since the mid-1990s, the Spanish Civil Guard estimates that 13,000 people have tried to breach the border...

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