The law of the border (Migration 2021)

In mid-2022, it is time to take stock of the migration issues covered in the media throughout 2021. The distance in time offers a different perspective on the facts, the confusion of immediacy gives way to the clarity favoured by distance, which favours the summary and synthesis, free from the urgencies of current affairs.  

We have chosen to dedicate this summary to two specific issues, both of which have been particularly prominent in the Spanish-language media: the migration policy of Joe Biden's presidency and, on a national level, the effect on migration issues caused by the diplomatic crisis between Morocco and Spain. Both exemplify the intricate relations between politics and migration, while at the same time opening up processes that led to unforeseen situations, only recently resolved. 

One of the focal points of the year was the news on migration policy generated by President Biden's administration, which took office at the end of January 2021. The Democratic takeover led many people to believe that the new administration would relax the harsh immigration conditions that were in place under Trump. Indeed, Republicans accused the new president early on of sending an open-door message to the countries of the south (mainly Mexico and the countries of the so-called northern triangle: El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala).

However, as more balanced analyses point out, the migration crises on the southern border of the United States are not so much due to the specific party or person occupying the presidency in each case, but rather to reasons internal to the Central American region (such as drug trafficking, the different forms of violence that plague the region, poverty or the effects of climate change). Thus, last year's arrival crisis could be seen as another episode in the Obama (2012, 2014) and Trump (2019) eras. 

At the end of March, President Biden entrusted his vice-president, Kamala Harris, with the direct management of migration policy with the aforementioned countries, a request that was widely commented on in the media, which analysed the opportunities and risks that this assignment entailed for her. At the time, the migration situation was particularly worrying, with more than 172,000 undocumented migrants detained by border guards during the month of March (11% of whom were minors unaccompanied by adults, in a very vulnerable situation).

The second half of the year focused on the August ruling by the US Supreme Court, which forced the Democratic administration to reinstate one of the central elements of Trump's immigration policy: the programme known colloquially as "Stay in Mexico", which automatically deported asylum seekers who had crossed the border illegally from Mexico, forcing them to wait for the decision of the US justice system in Mexico. It has taken until recently (specifically 30 June) for the Supreme Court to allow Joe Biden's government to rescind the aforementioned immigration programme. 

In Spain, news on migration is inevitably (and almost exclusively) associated with political relations with Morocco, which went through a turbulent period last year.

The news in April focused on the African tour undertaken by President Sánchez to Angola and Senegal, with a primarily commercial purpose, although, in the case of Senegal, the reinforcement of control of irregular immigration and the resumption of repatriation flights from Spain, which had been interrupted since 2018, were very much present. Reports on this trip highlighted the fact that there was still no date set for the official visit to Morocco (once the one scheduled for December 2020 was cancelled and the one announced for February 2021 did not take place), bearing in mind the importance of relations with this country for our migration policy (and not only for it). 

At the end of April, the presence in Spain of Brahim Ghali, head of the Polisario Front, who was hospitalised in serious condition in Logroño, initially under a false identity, and who had been transferred to Spain for "humanitarian reasons", became known. The incident caused great unease in Morocco and led to a diplomatic crisis between the two countries: the African country 'took note' of the Spanish government's decision not to inform its Moroccan counterparts of the incident, described Spain's attitude as 'premeditated' and warned of the consequences. These came in mid-May, when some 9,000 people crossed the Spanish border through Ceuta between 17 and 19 May, with the passivity of the Moroccan forces of law and order. The Spanish government spoke of "aggression" at the borders and requested and obtained the backing of the European Commission.  

After the events of April and May, bilateral relations between the two countries cooled considerably: the Moroccan ambassador to Spain remained in Rabat; the Spanish government, with a new Foreign Minister in place since 12 July, attempted a diplomatic rapprochement, which in the second half of the year did not achieve significant results. At the end of the period under analysis, Morocco expected a 'grand gesture' from Spain to restore dialogue and relaunch bilateral relations between the two countries. As is well known, the expected gesture arrived in 2022, outside the timeframe of this summary, and caused new turbulence in our foreign policy, although in this case it did not have such a direct impact on migration issues.

Luis Guerra is PhD in Philology, is an associate researcher of the INMIGRA3-CM project, financed by the Community of Madrid and the European Social Fund