migrants
Stranded in Morocco, Syrians join African migrants in storming Europe’s door
This story was published by the Christian Science Monitor on February 28, 2014.
By ELLA BANKA
Abdel Karim is a boy without a country. His parents, Adel and Alia Alkhalaf, are Syrian asylum seekers who entered Morocco without visas, and their legal limbo has left their youngest son, born six months ago in Morocco, without citizenship anywhere.
“We live day by day,” murmurs 29-year-old Adel. The couple has three children: Abdel Karim, with his wide, toothless, sweet smile; Mustafa, an eight-year-old with olive green eyes; and Sileen, a two-year-old troublemaker.Checkpoint: Ceuta
By SUTTON RAPHAEL
Lead: Student Sutton Raphael walks through the international checkpoint at Ceuta and observes life in the walled-off Spanish enclave. Fnideq and other Moroccan cities just kilometers away from the border serve as the last stop for many sub-Saharan migrants seeking an illegal passage into Ceuta.
The Moroccan border officer takes one glance at the golden outline of an eagle printed on the cover of my passport and nods before handing it back. This recognizable symbol makes my passage through Ceuta’s international border checkpoint easier than most.
It is Monday, and I parade into the Spanish enclave among a steady stream of Moroccan women.
