It’s a Delicate, Tragic Situation. So of Course Trump Is Exploiting It.

The Slatest Images of thousands of people trying to cross a border are upsetting. How these people’s misfortune will be used is its own tragedy. Photo illustration by Slate. Photo by Jorge Guerrero/AFP via Getty Images. This story is adapted from the Slatest newsletter. You can sign up here to get it in your inbox every day. Tens of thousands of people crossed from Morocco into Spanish territory yesterday and today. Almost all of those people have already been sent back, more continue to be returned to their home country, and none have successfully crossed into continental Europe. (We’ll explain this with a map.) Nevertheless, right-wing media is on fire over this story, the president has weighed in, and you’re likely going to hear about it a lot between now and November. OK, before we get into the politics, could I have just the facts, please?The right place to start. So, Ceuta is a small slice of Spanish territory that sits on a Mediterranean coastline that is otherwise part of Morocco. This is very relevant to the story, so here is a map: Getty Images Plus Starting Thursday morning, more than 50,000 migrants crossed into Ceuta, either by bypassing fences on land or attempting to swim along the coast. Dozens died in the attempt. (A Spanish government spokesperson told Reuters that 57 bodies had been recovered on Spain’s side of the border and that more could be found on the Moroccan side.) That sounds—and looks—extremely intense. Why did this happen?It was, by all accounts, a chaotic, confusing, and awful scene—this kind of mass influx of people is not how any of this is supposed to work. That it happened reflects the desperation of many Moroccans to cross the border. However, Spanish law enforcement mobilized a mass-return effort in Ceuta, and by Friday afternoon local time, 48,300 had been sent back to Morocco, according to the Spanish government, with many more en route. Moroccan authorities have since largely halted new crossings into Ceuta. A European Union official said no migrants have gone from Ceuta to mainland Spain or other EU states. Why is this a big deal in the U.S.?Because, given what a hot-button issue immigration is here, you’re going to be hearing about it a lot. The conservative consensus is that Spain’s relatively lenient position toward immigrants is to blame for the incident, which they say vindicates Donald Trump’s extremely hostile position toward (nonwhite) migrants. Right-wing media is all over it: I’ll spare you the links, but it’s the lead story on Breitbart. Fox News has a bunch of headlines about it. It’s a top story on the Daily Wire. In fact, Trump has weighed in already: “It looks like an invasion of a country by hundreds of thousands of people … That’s going to be us in three years if the wrong side gets in … If the Democrats get in, you will not live a very good life.” Those sentiments were echoed by a host of MAGA lawmakers and influencers. Is there precedent for this sort of argument?You may remember 2018, when, in the lead-up to the midterms in Trump’s first term, Republicans made a massive deal about “migrant caravans” who were supposedly coming from Central America to overrun the U.S. border. This issue has not gone away since: High levels of crossings at the U.S.-Mexico border proved a political liability for the Biden-Harris administration too. Do they have a point? Is this evidence of a collapse of Spanish sovereignty?Spain’s leftist governing party oversaw passage of a new policy that allows some unauthorized migrants to apply for legal status, bringing them formally into the workforce of an aging nation. A recent Spanish Supreme Court ruling put some limits on the government’s ability to immediately send back migrants intercepted at sea, though legal experts told Reuters that this does not prevent their eventual expulsion. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said a misinterpretation of the court ruling had spread among migrants and traffickers, leading to the influx. But is this incident relevant to the immigration issues we face in America?It’s at least representative of the desperation many migrants feel, and it’s an incredible dramatic visual. So it will keep coming up because anti-immigrant fearmongering is sort of the underpinning of the entire MAGA project, even though the specific dynamics at play on this tiny peninsula have extremely limited relevance to the U.S. Tolga Akdoğan The weekend is upon us, and so we have some great reads for you, a fun quiz, and everything you need to figure out if you should go see one of the year’s biggest movies. The inspiring tale of a forgotten hero: In 1990, a single dad got fed up with the billboards for cigarettes targeting Chicago’s Black neighborhoods. So he assumed a secret identity and took matters into his own hands. One Year host Josh Levin tells the story of Mandrake the Magician’s one-man fight against Big Tobacco. Test your news knowledge: Who was brought before a Senate subcommittee this week after pages from his personal diary were released by Sen. Rand Paul? Whom did Maine Democrats choose to replace Graham Platner as their new Senate candidate? See if you can beat a Slate senior editor in this week’s news quiz. Go deeper on The Odyssey: Whether you’ve seen Christopher Nolan’s epic movie already or you’re considering heading to the theaters to catch it this weekend, you might find something that speaks to you in Slate’s coverage of the film. So far, Slate writers have taken stock of how the right-wing backlash didn’t hurt the movie at the box office; considered how Nolan put his own twist on the ending; spoken to a classics professor about Lupita Nyong’o’s casting as Helen; reflected on how the movie captures the trauma of war; and dug into the question of the best possible format for viewing The Odyssey. Hold on to July for just a little longer: August is around the corner, but what if it weren’t? Way back in 2001, David Plotz declared August the worst month. It’s the dog days of summer, with beastly heat, no proper holidays, and an abysmal history. Plotz’s bold solution to the tyranny of August? Let’s get rid of it! That’s it from us. Have a great weekend. We’ll be back Monday. Get the best of news and politics Sign up for Slate's evening newsletter.