The Rules That Kill: How Spain's Supreme Court Contributed to the Ceuta Catastrophe The recent tragedy in Ceuta, where an estimated 50,000 migrants attempted to swim across from Morocco and at least 57 lost their lives, has left Europe reeling.
Beneath this disaster lies a more insidious story: how Spain's supreme court inadvertently directed migrants to choose life threatening routes by creating a loophole that effectively encouraged them to bypass border barriers.
The court's decision in July allowed for the summary deportation of migrants who circumvented physical barriers at the border, which seemed reasonable on paper.