Spain and Morocco

1. Spain and Morocco Contested Borders By Jocelyn Christiansen, Ray Espinoza, David Flores and Alexander Williams

2. Borders Melilla, Spain Morocco

3. Main Nationalistic of Origin of Immigrants by Country of destination

4. Percentage of immigrants (foreign born) in population and in the work force.

5. Morocco

6. Spain

7. Jobs available • Farming • Construction • Services Majority are the following:

8. Ramification • Violence provoke violence • Inflict bodily harm and even death • Immigrants are forced to take on dangerous route

9. Spain Efforts to Control the Border • 10 foot razor wire fences are built surrounding the border. • High tech infrared cameras, sensor pads and sound detectors are installed. • The use of military “The Guardian” institution • Civilian police

10. Melilla, Spain • Melilla is one of the two autonomous cities in Morocco. • Morocco claims Melilla and base this claim on the fact that it is part of the Idrisid and other Muslin dynasties from 791 until 1497. In 1497 the city was taken by Spain. Spain insist that Memilla has been part of Spain longer than many of its own territories. • Many illegal immigrants started to come to Melilla and Spain decided to build a fence around the city.

11. Border Fence • Spain and the EU funded the construction of walls around Melilla's. • This wall was completed in 1998. It sealed 6-miles of border with 10-foot fences topped with barbed wire. • Ninety miles of underground cable connect spotlights, noise and movement sensors, and video cameras to a central control booth.

12. Extent of immigration • In 2004, the country of Spain reformed their immigrations laws. Laws were modified in hopes of reducing illegal immigration by allowing workers to enter into legal contracts, legal wages and paying into the health system. • The Spanish government also changed their policies regarding ferry boats carrying immigrants from North Africa to Spain. This was done in hopes of reducing the amount of deaths related to shipping of illegal immigrants. The Spanish government also granted illegal immigrants with a job residency and a work permit. • As a result, immigrants took drastic measures to reach Melilla as they would rush the fences hundred at a time in order to get across. In 2005, one attempt involved 650 people who crashed a section of the fence. Over 300 made it across.

13. Where they come from. • 1995 several nations in the European Union began to enact the Schengen Accords, by which internal E.U. borders were weakened and external borders were strengthened. Spain has a shrinking labor pools and needs guest workers to harvest its crops, build its buildings, clean its houses, and labor in its factories. • Significant numbers of illegal immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa began appearing in Ceuta and Melilla in the mid-1990s, and nearly 12,000 had made it by 1990.. Despite Spain's attempts at vigilance and prevention, perhaps twenty to twenty-five Africans reach daily. • Spain’s policy towards immigration made it hard to return immigrants. • Many of the immigrants are coming from countries such as Morocco, Algeria and other African nations, presenting a set of new problems for Spain. Many of these countries have high level of poverty and many immigrants see Melilla, Spain as a opportunity to live in a European Union nation.

14. Why they migrate. • Spain’s average per capita income is 16,990 • Morocco’s average per captia income is 1,320 • 20% unemployed in urban areas • 8.79% of GDP made up by remittances • 5.05 billion dollars • In 2007 GDP sunk due to drought • Morocco is a transit point for cocaine headed for western Europe from S. America • Morocco is also a huge consumer of cannabis and exporter of hashish. • Italy, Top five destinations of Moroccan migrants: France, Spain, Israel and the Netherlands

15. Continued • Some reasons for migration: work opportunity, illegal activity (smuggling European goods, hashish, marijuana, and other Western products as well, such as cigarettes) • The Moroccan Migrants would be defined as economic refugees because it is mainly work opportunity, whether legal or illegal that causes them to migrate. • They could also be called political refugees because many are forced to migrate because of political activism, often targeted during political conflict. • Migrants are crossing the border, despite the risks, mainly because the Moroccan environment lacks equal opportunity as well as for the western materials available outside the country.

16. Opinions on Migrants • Because inward remittances are high in Morocco the government regards the migrants with some level of indifference. • The countries receiving Moroccan migrants do not regard them kindly, and many view them as the Mexicans of Europe, exploiting the opportunities there in order to send their earnings home. • The Moroccan government depends on the remittances to balance their economy as well as tie them with the European nations and so the migrants are not regarded with significant criticism. • Non-governmental groups acknowledge the reasons for migration and the economic problems that the Moroccan population faces, and so much sympathy is held for those forced to migrate as a form of survival. • Future free trade shall open tourism and boost textile export, this may eventually change how this issue is viewed.

17. Continued • This border is contested because of the high rate of exchange of peoples from Morocco and European nations, for it has become a transit for legal as well illegal activity. • Goods are smuggled into Morocco and leave morocco so quickly that it creates a network system that their economy has grown dependent upon. • People are migrating not always because they need to find work but also because their government sometimes targets them in times of conflict and they are not safe. • In Morocco there is a better understanding as to why people are migrating and so the perspective is much more subjective and in turn empathetic. • The receiving nations however do not see this issue in full light and so the desperate nature of the migrant’s journey is rarely dwelled upon, and so they regard them more cynically.

18. Impact of Immigration • Spain's recent economic expansion is due to two factors that have enhanced its growth potential: the strong pace at which women have entered the labor market, and the intense influx of foreign labor. • Most immigrants are from developing countries and their educational level is higher than the average for the native population, which will undoubtedly facilitate assimilation and enhance their contribution to growth in the future. The Labor Force Survey reveals that half of all new jobs created in the last five years (i.e. 2.6 million) were occupied by immigrants, mainly in retail, hospitality and domestic service.

19. Continued • As for the impact of immigration on growth, this report reveals a net positive outcome. Immigration accounts for 30% of economic growth in the last decade, and 50% in the last five years. • Immigrants contributed positively to the total government surplus in 2005, accounting for over 50% of the surplus. Moreover, it is reasonable to assume that future migrant inflows will further improve immigration's net contribution in the short and medium term. However, that balance is very likely to change in the long term (2030), when the immigrants that are working today begin to retire.

20. Controversies Illegal migrants see Spain's enclaves in Morocco as gateways to a better life in Europe, but many Moroccans suffer beatings and pay bribes to go in past razor-wire fences just to be able to return home. Waves of African migrants stormed the enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla in 2005, when 11 were killed, but thousands of poor Moroccans queue to enter the Spanish territories in order to make a meager living when they trek back into Morocco. They go in and return laden with food, perfume, shampoo, household wares and electric appliances. Moroccan border police let them back without paying import duties to undercut legal importers and turn a small profit. 

21. Continued • The Moroccan government says smuggling across its borders loses it $240 million in tax revenue every year. • "We often turn a blind eye to the small-time smugglers as they are very poor and live from this trade," said a Moroccan customs official who asked not to be named. • Researchers found that in the case of certain migrant groups, particularly Algerians, the Spanish authorities use informal procedures to determine their country of origin, sometimes resulting in unreliable and arbitrary decisions. Human Rights Watch also documented disturbing violations of migrants' and asylum seekers' procedural rights, particularly their rights to information in a language they understand, meaningful legal and translation services, and an opportunity to appeal.

22. What the US can Learn There are many places in the US that take advantage of immigrant workers. They do so because they can get away with not having to pay Federal and State taxes and the employee as much as legal residents. Our immigration policy doesn’t let the average immigrant entrance and settlement to our country. This type of immigrant is the one risking it all to get across the border to make in their terms what a great salary is. The situation the US finds itself in is not that much different from Spain. If border walls are necessary to keep out smugglers and the like, fine keep them. Otherwise, the US should try to follow Spain’s example of letting in migrants with work visas for a specified time allowance and allow re-application if needed after visa terms have expired. Obviously Spain’s immigration policy had some bugs it needed to work out, but in the long run their economy has benefited greatly by the influx of migrant workers.

23. Resources • Albarracín, Daniel “New Rules on Labor Immigration.” EIRO Online (European Industrial Relations On-Line). 2005. EIRO online. Januray,1 ,2005http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/eiro/2004/12/feature/es0412104f.htm. • Staff, “Spain set to repatriate Morocco illegal”. Deutsche Well. 2005. Dw-World.De. June 10, 2005.http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,1731883,00.html. • Stoltz, George. “ Europe’s Back Doors.” The Atlantic On-line. 2000. Atlantic on-line. January 2000.http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/2000/01/001stolz.htm. • Economic Bureau of the President. “Immigration and the Spanish Economy” Yahoo.com April 15, 2008http://www.la-moncloa.es/NR/rdonlyres/88165A8c-E40D-4D7E-9468-FBOC45516947/81221/InmigrationandSpanishEcomony.pdf16 April 2008 • Human Rights News. “Spain: Immigration Laws Applied Unfairly” HRW.org April 15, 2008http://hrw.org/english/docs/2002/07/05/spain4072.htm16 April 2008 • Abdennebi, Zakia. “Spanish enclaves offer lifeline for poor Moroccans” Yahoo.com April 15, 2008http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080415/lf_nm/spain_morocco_smuggling_dc_1;_ylt=AnrRF4MvoQGEZVobaFRbQYhatAoB16 April 2008 • Staff, "Spain enforces enclave borders", BBC News On line, September 22, 2005. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4271536.stm • European University Institute, accessed April 15th, 2008. http://www.iue.it/ • De Haas, Hein. "Morocco: From Immigration country to Africa's migration passage to Europe.", Migration Information Source. 2008. http://www.migrationinformation.org/Profiles/display.cfm?ID=339 • CIA Factbook, “Morocco” , April 11, 2008. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/mo.html