The Pencil Box

Abstract: Nigeria, Côte d'Ivoire, Cameroon, Guinea Conakry, Congo, Senegal, Mali, Togo, Ghana, Niger, Burkina Faso, Gambia, Sierra Leone ... the starting point has different names; the arrival, only three: Ceuta, Melilla or the Iberian peninsula. In between, a hard road that usually lasts months, in some cases years and in the worst of the stages only leads to death (1,471 deaths between 2008 and 2013). The media outlets stop at the last station of the crossing: the jumps to the Melilla fence, the attempt to cross the Ceuta breakwater or the boats that continue to arrive at Andalusian coasts. Immigration detention is the policy of holding individuals suspected of visa violations, illegal entry or unauthorized arrival, and those subject to deportation and removal in detention until a decision is made by immigration authorities to grant a visa and release them into the community, or to repatriate them to their country of departure. When an immigrant enters Melilla by jumping the fence (or swimming, in a boat, by the border hidden in a car, or using a false passport) he does it illegally and, therefore, he becomes an illegal immigrant. After being identified by the police and registered at the Temporary Immigrant Stay Center (CETI), the Government initiates against them a procedure that, in general terms, will cause his expulsion. This procedure is not judicial, it is administrative. It is the executive power trying to return a citizen who has irregularly entered Melilla to his country of origin. While this problem continues, another emerges: the immigrants who have been able to reach the Peninsula can´t find any job or way to get one as they do not have the necessary tool or sources. Creating a place in which these immigrants will be helped to truly integrate them into society will allow them to evolve in our society and have a better life.