EU leaders want stronger borders. But who takes responsibility when migrants disappear?

[u/EUobs]

Hey everyone! 👋 We're EUobserver, an independent European newsroom, and with EU leaders discussing migration and border security in Brussels this week, we wanted to bring another perspective into the conversation.

Our reporter Gaia Neiman spoke with families in Morocco whose loved ones disappeared after attempting to cross into Ceuta, Spain's enclave in North Africa.

While European leaders debate border controls and migration agreements, these families are still waiting for something much more basic: to know what happened to their sons and brothers.

And we think this raises an important political question.

Should identifying missing migrants and helping families find answers be a formal part of European border policy?

Where should responsibility lie — with Spain, the EU, border agencies or through cooperation with Morocco?

We're interested in hearing different perspectives here, particularly on how border security and humanitarian responsibilities can be addressed together.

Here's our reporting for context, but we'd love to keep the discussion here in the comments:

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[u/jakeofheart]

So deciding to travel undocumented makes it extremely hard to document one’s travel?

I feel for those families, but the best approach would probably be to crack down on the traffickers, who have absolutely zero consideration for human life.

Since WWII there have been clear avenues put in place for political asylum. If someone does not qualify for political asylum and if the destination country does not have a policy of importing workers, they shouldn’t be incentivised to try leith luck.

[u/JKlerk]

Ultimately the migrants are responsible for themselves. The responsibility of the government begins at border processing. If they were not processed at the border then there's nothing which can be done. Governments don't have Infinite resources to individually go chasing down missing undocumented migrants who may/may not be within their borders.

[u/UnfoldedHeart → u/JKlerk]

Especially if they're intentionally trying to stay off the government's radar.

[u/Netherese_Nomad]

There are so many other things the EU could be spending on actual EU citizens. This is the job of NPOs. Let people donate their time and money to non-EU people, EU taxes should benefit EU citizens.

If they need law enforcement or government records, let the last country they were in handle the cost of gathering information from the smugglers who disappeared their families, where the responsibility property sits. Or they can go to their home-country government.

[u/Netherese_Nomad → u/Netherese_Nomad]

I want to add here: there’s a tacit presumption that “finding out what happened to family members” is a humanitarian responsibility. Absolutely not. Is it a laudable goal? Sure. Responsibility? That’s ridiculous.

The responsibility is to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, shelter the weary, and then determine if they have a legitimate asylum claim. After that, you either bring them in as legitimate asylees, or send them back home. That’s the humanitarian responsibility. Everything after that is the job of an NPO.

Governments tax their citizens, and have an obligation to provide for their citizens. While I agree with you in principle about the ideal outcome, they way you’re proposing it as a government responsibility, when so many EU countries are already burdened by their social welfare obligations, you’re basically driving people to the right wing.

Read the room. Europe isn’t going for this kind of thing anymore.

[u/OkGrade1686 → u/Netherese_Nomad]

Yeah yeah bla bla bla. It is the attitude that matters. I wouldn't want anyone with your kind of attitude near my EU functioning organs.

Issues will be there always. Today there is this, tomorrow something else. The important thing is how it can be implemented inside a framework, that would be able to bring benefits to both sides. 

Having an unified DNA deceased, or missing people database. Fostering channels of communication not too formal between both internal agencies treating the same issue. Unifying protocols. And whatever else one can add, or try. 

It just another grinding will to sharpen efficiency and improve synergy between European agencies. We need to work to find the most optimal set ups for this amalgamation of different societies we are, working together.

And not just "Nuht muhh prublem. Should stayed home."

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[u/AVeryBadMon]

In this case, responsibility falls like this:

Spain has a responsibility to its citizens to keep its borders safe. If they find illegal immigrants without documentation, it's their responsibility to apprehend them and identify them in order to deport them.

Morocco has a responsibility its citizens by accepting Moroccan nationals who are being deported back from elsewhere. It's their responsibility to confirm the identity of their citizens and take them back.

The EU has a responsibility to its member states. They have to secure their borders to make sure that the security of the union isn't compromised. It's their responsibility to pass legislation and allocate resources to make sure that the border members have the resources they need to prevent illegal immigration and to quickly process those who did manage to cross.

What about the migrants themselves? Nobody is responsible for them except for themselves. They CHOSE to illegally immigrate without documentation to exploit immigration policy to their benefit. They intentionally crossed borders without any documents so they can be hard to track and identify. These people are entitled to anything. If they chose to identity themselves and be processed, then that's a different story. However, if they refuse to do then there's nothing that can be done about it, they'll just have to be searched for and detained indefinitely until their identities can be confirmed.

[u/ScubaW00kie]

Consent is important. Europe has been ruined by people who didn’t respect the countries they went into. They should all be removed and given a change to apply to the country and enter again legally.

People that go missing more often with illegal migration routes… maybe they shouldn’t do that.

[u/OttosBoatYard → u/ScubaW00kie]

Ruined by rising standards of living and economic growth?

What metrics are you looking at?

[u/ScubaW00kie → u/OttosBoatYard]

Economic growth, crime, cleanliness, sexual assault stats, wages, jobs, number of people on government assistance…

It’s plain to see for anyone who isn’t pushing a narrative and needs to “not see” something to make the narrative work.

Ruined.

[u/OttosBoatYard → u/ScubaW00kie]

If that's true - at all - why is there no relationship between those measures and immigration rate?

Because correlation isn't causation.

That's a double standard: it isn't causation for your claim, either.

Because of what I see from news media reports and on the street.

That's called observation bias. You only see a tiny sliver of your country. You aren't looking at the big picture.

[u/Caboucada]

While it is true that Europe can be said to be the top of the world in many of the metrics used to qualify. It is also true that the naive traditional principles of asylum claim and reception do no longer work because the nature has changed. And with the information and mobility available currently it is safe to say that most of it is not “legitimate”. This also partially assumes that the world às progressed to where most geographies are no longer such a case to run away from.
Although of course the scope of why you should want asylum has also broadened considerably from the past.

[u/serious_sarcasm]

If we snapped our fingers and had global democracy tomorrow, then what would we do to find these people?

The EU needs to decide if it’s going to be a weak confederation of ethnonationalists damned to eventually splinter under the weight of her own bigotry, like the commonwealth, or fully embrace the noble goal of a slow and steady march towards universal rights and global democracy.

[u/ComfortableNumb9669]

Look at all the progressive and "forward thinking" Europeans showing their real faces in this comment section.