Life On The Border

The condition of migrants who try to cross from Morocco to Spain continues to worsen. Just this week, a seventeen year old boy from Cameroon, who had traveled from his native country all the way to Morocco in order to penetrate Europe, was found dead.

Spain and Morocco’s security forces are investigating the death of a Cameroonian boy whose body was found a short distance from the border fence where a group of 300 would-be immigrants battled police on Sunday night in an attempt to force their way into Melilla.

The body of the youth, identified as 17-year-old Joe Ypo, was found shortly after 7pm on Monday on the Moroccan side of the border. In the same area 17 hours earlier the group of mostly sub-Saharan migrants had used makeshift ladders in an attempt to scale the barbed-wire fence that rings the Spanish North African enclave. They were fought back by 80 Spanish Civil Guard officers armed with riot gear as well as Moroccan border guards, resulting in injuries to 10 officers and three immigrants. Eighty-seven of the assailants were arrested by Moroccan police.

People are using ladders to climb over land borders and inflatable boats to cross water ones. What limits does desperation have to reach before something is done for them?