Immigration: open borders

By Richard North - November 19, 2023

One can see that the British legacy media is so full of vitally important news that it is hard put to make space (or time) for many items. Yet, for all that, it is interesting to note some of the things that are left out.

For instance, in Ceuta, the Spanish enclave in Morocco – dating from the 15th Century – there has been something of a drama over the last few days, as hundreds or possibly thousands of black African male would-be migrants have made multiple attempts to storm the border, having made three attempts in 24 hours.

These are only the most recent attempts at breaching the walls of “fortress” Europe, attempts which would have remained unknown to the British public but for sporadic reports and video clips in social media.

The attempt before that seems to have been about two weeks ago, according to a video report in CNN, when it appears that about 8,000 seem to have forced a crossing.

Then we have another attempt recorded on 14 April this year in a Spanish language newspaper, when approximately three hundred sub-Saharan migrants attempted to cross into Ceuta. This seems to have been successfully contained, although one of the border crossings had to be closed for a few hours.

Aljazeera took an interest in the other Spanish enclave, Melilla, just over a month ago, in early October, in a general piece about immigrants transiting to Europe via Morocco. That broadcaster recalled what was referred to as the “Mellila massacre”, when 37 migrants were killed on 22 June last year during attempts to break through the border.

This “massacre” was also recalled by the Guardian, but only last August, relying on a headline photograph from 2014.

Official figures from that day, the paper tells us, indicate that of the roughly 1,700 migrants who attempted to cross the border, 133 were able to claim asylum and 470 individuals entered Spanish territory but were forcibly returned to Morocco. At least 37 people died, and 77 people remain unaccounted for.

Previously, the paper only seems to have shown an interest in this region on 26 July 2018 when it reported that 800 “people” – i.e., black African males – had stormed the Ceuta border fence using shears and hammers to smash the high, razor wire-topped barriers, pelting Spanish police officers with plastic containers of excrement and quicklime, sticks and stones, as well as using aerosols as flame-throwers.

Some 602 of these “people” succeeded in reaching Ceuta, of whom 586 had been taken to a temporary reception centre, while 16 had been treated in hospital. Five police officers were injured.

These though are but small snapshots of dramas that are being repeated day-on-day on the borders of Europe, which seem to be getting more intense and dangerous with every passing year.

Recently, for instance, Estonia has started deploying “Dragon’s Teeth” anti-tank barriers on its border with Russia after the Kremlin had started pushing illegal migrants from Africa and the Middle East toward the Estonian border.

The EU, meanwhile, is alleging that Russia is trying to send asylum seekers to Finland. Border guards are stop them crossing using tear gas and other methods with the situation deteriorating to such an extent that the Finnish government has closed four border crossing points with Russia.

Partially redeeming itself is The Times from yesterday which describes the scene on the Hungarian border where, the paper says, traffickers backed by the Taliban vie for control of smuggling routes.

Just across the coils of razor wire on Hungary’s heavily fortified border with Serbia, we are told, what is described as the Taliban’s “terrorist Haqqani wing” is fighting a violent turf war to take control of the most active illegal migration route into Europe.

Hungary’s security services are said to be warning European countries that the Taliban takeover, coming amid a European migration crisis and a new Middle East conflict, increases the risk of terrorists using the western Balkans route to infiltrate Europe.

Such is the magnitude of the problem that the country has intercepted and turned back over 173,000 undocumented and illegal migrants this year, mainly Afghans and Syrians. There are between 1,300 and 1,400 attempts to breach fences at the Roszke border with Serbia every day, by which measure the Spanish problems almost pale into insignificance.

Violence, it seems, is ever-present: three weeks ago at least three people were killed in clashes between heavily armed Afghan, Moroccan and Syrian gangs who were fighting in Serbia’s Vojvodina region for control of access to the border fence.

The Times cites Gyorgy Bakondi, the Hungarian national security adviser, who has warned that the Taliban’s Haqqani network, classed by Britain as a proscribed terrorist organisation, is taking control of the smuggling route, opening a door into Europe.

“Smuggling gangs … in Serbia have family ties to the Taliban government in Afghanistan and the Haqqani network, which is a terrorist organisation,” he says. “The Taliban secret services are now directly controlling the activities of these Afghan-origin smuggling groups”.

The Taliban network was founded by Jalaluddin Haqqani, an Afghan warlord and insurgent commander against both Russia and Nato, who was a known associate of Osama Bin Laden. It is now run by Sirajuddin Haqqani, Jalaluddin’s son, who is the Taliban’s deputy leader and security minister and who has turned the network into the most radical and violent of Afghanistan’s Islamist government.

Interestingly, Afghan migrants are getting to the border via a Taliban-controlled route through Tajikistan to Moscow and then to Belgrade. Afghans of Tajik origin, it is said, can easily cross the border into Tajikistan, where they buy or apply for passports that allow them visa-free travel to Russia and then Serbia.

There is no indication though whether there is a link between this and the actions by both Iranian and Pakistani governments to close their borders to Afghans, both countries also embarking on programmes of forced repatriation.

Pakistan is making a start by aiming to deport all illegal Afghan immigrants by January, numbering some 300,000. After that, it plans to announce a timeframe for repatriating the remaining Afghan immigrants.

That, according to one sources will bring the total to be removed from Pakistan to 1.7 million – described as “a human tragedy of colossal proportions not seen since 1947 when millions were displaced and killed as Pakistan was carved out of India”.

Also noted is the near global silence – another issue the British media seem unable to find the space to report. It has, however, been noted that if Pakistan were a Jewish state, there would have been a global outcry from anti-Jews Muslims and liberals. This exodus, though, doesn’t fit the narrative, “so who cares about the plight of millions of Afghan refugees?”.

Those “millions” include those also being ejected from Iran, with 200,000 “illegals” so far reported as having been deported by one source. Aljazeera, on the other hand – citing IOM figures – says Iran has returned 1,031,757 Afghans to their home country so far this year, including at least 3,200 unaccompanied children, from the 3.4 million residents in the country, some of whom have been living there for 40 years.

Returning Afghans, speaking to the AFP news agency, claim they are being held in crowded, filthy detention camps where some were beaten before being transported to the border crossing. “They did not see us as humans”, says 19-year-old Abdul Samad, who was working in construction in Iran before he was deported.

In a sentiment which could easily be mirrored elsewhere, Iranians are complaining that, in parts of the country, the presence of Afghans was becoming “intimidating” to locals, beside the work opportunities taken from them.

The “flood of illegal migrants, with unknown identities, encourages all forms of crime… which is a problem we face in various cities”, it was said, with the added possibility that many Afghans being “Sunni fanatics” posed a terrorist risk.

However, the forced moves are not tragic for some. True to form, Sunak has stepped in to relocate thousands of Afghans facing deportation, without having to wait for their claims to be processed by British immigration officials. Some, while awaiting transport to the UK, are being housed in hotels in Pakistan at British expense.

Thus, while, at multiple points in the world, major efforts are being made to stem the tide of migrants and return them to their home countries – with little apparent concern for their welfare. But the UK, of course, is a shining exception. Here, the government opens our borders and houses them in luxury hotels, while the Financial Times wibbles about there being no European migrant crisis, and our home secretary dreams about Rwanda.