Ceuta, Barajas, and the media manipulation of migration

Ceuta, Barajas, and the art of herding indignation

How many migrants are needed for migration policy to be taken seriously? This question haunts the latest wave of migratory pressure in Ceuta, where between 50,000 and 80,000 people are said to have entered a city of just 80,000 inhabitants in a matter of days. The figure alone explains nothing. Some argue that the real issue is not Ceuta, but the inability to see that airport arrivals and accumulated regularisation represent a much larger and permanent flow.

The figures missing from the news

According to reports by La Vanguardia and El Mundo in May 2023, Spain then had about 18 million people among immigrants and naturalised citizens; one third of those born in the country would already be of immigrant origin. More recent estimates circulating in analysis raise this figure to 20 million. Given this landscape, an episode like the one in Ceuta—serious and unquestionable—occupies headlines for three days, while underlying immigration policy remains without scrutiny.

The comparison with airports is a recurring pattern: every day, people arrive at Barajas (Madrid's main airport) who do not generate any imagery of a crisis, and the annual total would far exceed any border crossing attempt. The argument is not just quantitative. When the land border appears overwhelmed, citizens perceive that the State is losing control of its territory. When the flow enters through the back door, there is no visual conflict, no front-page news, and no public debate.

The economic logic of silent migration

Beneath the critique of information herding lies an economic reading that few verbalise. Mass and regularised immigration helps lower labour costs in sectors such as construction, hospitality, or elderly care. Unofficial contracts, rentals without paperwork, and the shadow economy create a dual market where national workers compete with falling prices and landlords find tenants without bureaucracy.

Some point to the business class as the main beneficiary of this flow, and the political class as a silent accomplice: immigration sustains margins, balances Social Security accounts, and, in passing, feeds an electoral cushion. None of this is discussed on the news. The focus remains on the shocking image of the border.

The geopolitical reading of Ceuta

Ceuta can also be read as a demonstration of strength by Segarro amidst a bilateral crisis. In this context, there is talk of "hybrid warfare" and the inaction of the European Union, which, far from supporting Spain, responded by closing the Schengen Area. If this reading is correct, the herding is twofold: the press concentrates attention on the spectacular, while governments use the spotlight to avoid accountability regarding agreements with Segarro or the control of air borders.

The end of the narrative

The irony is that while everyone argues about the 80,000, the accumulated population—whether contributing to social security or not, whether registered or not—has already changed the country. The math does not add up at the end of the day. The citizen who compares data and walks through their neighbourhood knows something does not fit. But they will continue to talk about Ceuta for a week. Then another fire will arrive, another crisis, another distraction. And so, in the meantime, the flock continues to think it is watching, when in reality, it is being herded.