It only took hours for tens of thousands of Moroccan illegal aliens to invade the Spanish territory of Ceuta this week. Removing those who remain will take far longer — if Spain even manages to remove them, given a recent court ruling that prohibits immediately deporting migrants who arrive by sea, as many did.
But let Spain’s overrun border be a reminder to Americans when measuring President Donald Trump’s deportation efforts against the mess left by the Biden administration: A government can destroy its border and country within a matter of days, sometimes weeks. Restoring sovereignty after your country is flooded with foreigners is a much more difficult and slow undertaking — and punishing Trump in the midterms won’t make the problem better.
According to The New York Times, nearly 60,000 migrants invaded Ceuta within about 24 hours. Ceuta’s entire population is roughly 85,000. Videos show hundreds of military-aged men running across the border, arriving in boats, and breaking through barriers. Eventually military forces were deployed. Tens of thousands of the invaders reportedly self-deported.
But the event showed just how quickly a country can lose its sovereignty. Tens of thousands of people entered in one day illegally. Spain cannot easily deport these migrants either. Those who claim to seek asylum must be processed, minors get even more protections, and a recent court ruling reportedly restricts the government’s ability to deport migrants who arrived via the ocean.
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