Melilla, The Spanish Enclave That Harms Spain, And Europe

In Morocco, a cell of Islamic State supporters has been dismantled. Morocco claims that their weapons were smuggled in from Melilla, the Spanish enclave. If true, that is bad enough. But even if false, Melilla is not an asset to Spain but a permanent liability. And here is why: any of the tens of thousands of Arab and African “asylum seekers” who manage to get to Morocco, and then to the fences and barbed wire around Melilla can, if they manage to get through those defenses, and many thousands have, can not be immediately sent back into Morocco or anywhere else but must, according to the EU conventions Spain has adhered to, must be subject to a long process to determine the suitability of each claimant to “asylum status.” It’s expensive, it’s time-consuming, it often leads to decisions that allow these phony “refugees” to stay, or gives them time to escape from wherever they are being held — and in some cases they are allowed to go free on the promise that they will return for a hearing, and they never do, in short, it is a disaster for the Spanish. Possibly there is some value to Melilla of which only the Spansih are aware, but if there is none, there is certainly good reason to hand it over to the Moroccans, so that this point of entry into Spain and Schengenland no longer exists.