Editing Melilla (section)

== Border security ==
=== Defence and Civil Guard ===
The defence of the enclave is the responsibility of the [[Spanish Armed Forces]]' General Command of Melilla.<ref name="auto">{{cite web | url=https://ejercito.defensa.gob.es/en/unidades/Melilla/comgemel/Organizacion/index.html | title=Comandancia General de Melilla |website=Ministerio de Defensa}}</ref> The [[Spanish Army]]'s combat components of the command include:

* [[Regulares|52nd ''Regulares'' Infantry Regiment]];
* [[Tercio "Gran Capitán" No. 1 of the Legion|1st Tercio ''Gran Capitán'' Regiment]] of the [[Spanish Legion]];
* 10th 'Alcántara' Cavalry Regiment<ref>{{cite web | url=https://ejercito.defensa.gob.es/en/unidades/Melilla/rcac10/ | title=REGIMIENTO DE CABALLERIA "ALCÁNTARA"10 |website=Ministerio de Defensa}}</ref> equipped with [[Leopard 2|Leopard 2 main battle tanks]] and [[ASCOD|Pizarro infantry fighting vehicles]];<ref>{{cite web | url=https://ejercito.defensa.gob.es/unidades/Melilla/rcac10/Noticias/2021/03_ejercicio_de_tiro.html | title=Ejercicio de tiro del vehículo VCIC Pizarro - Ejército de tierra }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://ejercito.defensa.gob.es/unidades/Melilla/rcac10/Organizacion/index.html | title=Contenido - Ejército de tierra }}</ref>
* 32nd Mixed Artillery Regiment with ''Grupo de Artillería de Campaña I/32'' equipped with [[Santa Bárbara Sistemas 155/52|155/52mm towed howitzers]] and ''Grupo de Artillería Antiaérea II/32'' equipped with [[Oerlikon GDF|35/90 SKYDOR/35/90 GDF-007 anti-aircraft guns]];<ref>{{cite web | url=https://ejercito.defensa.gob.es/en/unidades/Melilla/ramix32/Historial/index.html | title=Regimiento Mixto de Artillería 32 |website=Ministerio de Defensa }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://ejercito.defensa.gob.es/en/unidades/Melilla/ramix32/Noticias/2022/10_El_GAAA_II32_realiza_ejercicios_de_colaboracion_aerea_y_tiro_AAA_en_el_CMT_de_Rostrogordo.html | title=El GAAA II/32 realiza ejercicios de colaboración aérea y tiro AAA en el CMT de Rostrogordo. - Spanish army }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://uklandpower.com/2020/12/08/learning-from-how-our-allies-armies-are-organized/ | title=Learning from how our Allies' armies are organized | date=8 December 2020 }}</ref> and,
* 8th Engineer Regiment

The command also includes its headquarters battalion as well as logistics elements.<ref name="auto"/>

In addition to the defence of Melilla, the garrison is also responsible for [[Plazas de soberanía|the defence of islands and rock formations claimed by Spain]] off the coast of Morocco. Units of the garrison are deployed to these rock formations to secure them against Moroccan incursions and did so notably during the [[Perejil Island crisis]] in 2002.<ref name="auto"/> To enhance coastal security, the [[Spanish Navy]] based a dedicated patrol boat (''Isla Pinto'') in Melilla from mid-2023.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Entregado a la Armada española el patrullero "Isla Pinto" (P-84) |url=https://www.defensa.com/defensa-naval/entregado-armada-espanola-patrullero-isla-pinto-p-84|website=infodefensa.com |date=28 June 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=La Armada recibe el patrullero 'Isla Pinto' para vigilar las aguas de Melilla |url=https://www.lavanguardia.com/nacional/20230621/9058347/armada-recibe-patrullero-isla-pinto-vigilar-aguas-melilla.html |website=Lavanguardia |date=21 June 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=La Armada incrementará su presencia en Melilla con un patrullero de vigilancia costera|url=https://www.infodefensa.com/texto-diario/mostrar/4192258/armada-incrementara-presencia-melilla-patrullero-vigilancia-costera |website=infodefensa.com |date=27 February 2023}}</ref> Melilla itself is about {{convert|350|km}} distant from the main Spanish naval base at [[Naval Station Rota|Rota]] on the Spanish mainland while the [[Spanish Air Force]]'s [[Morón Air Base]] is within {{convert|300|km}} proximity.{{citation needed|date=March 2023}}

The [[Civil Guard (Spain)|Civil Guard]] is responsible for border security and protects both the territory's [[Melilla border fence|fortified land border]] against frequent, and sometimes significant, migrant incursions.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.infomigrants.net/en/post/38932/melilla-thousands-of-migrants-attempt-to-scale-fence-into-spanish-enclave | title=Melilla: Thousands of migrants attempt to scale fence into Spanish enclave | date=3 March 2022 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Guerraoui|first=Saad|date=2021-06-12|title=Spanish report warns of Morocco's 'hybrid strategies' to annex Ceuta, Melilla &#124; Saad Guerraoui|url=https://middle-east-online.com/en/spanish-report-warns-morocco%25E2%2580%2599s-%25E2%2580%2598hybrid-strategies%25E2%2580%2599-annex-ceuta-melilla|access-date=2023-01-14|website=MEO|language=en}}</ref>

=== Trans-border relations ===
Melilla forms a sort of trans-border urban conurbation with limited integration together with the neighbouring Moroccan settlements, located at one of the ends of a linear succession of [[urban sprawl]] spanning southward in Morocco along the [[National Route 19 (Morocco)|R19]] road from [[Beni Ensar]] down to [[Nador]] and [[Selouane]].{{Sfn|Ponce Herrero|Martí Ciriquián|2019|p=115}} The urban system features a high degree of hierarchization, specialization and [[division of labour]], with Melilla as chief provider of services, finance and trade; Nador as an eminently industrial city whereas the rest of Moroccan settlements found themselves in a subordinate role, presenting [[agro-town]] features and operating as providers of workforce.{{Sfn|Ponce Herrero|Martí Ciriquián|2019|p=115}}

The asymmetry, as reflected for example in the provision of healthcare, has fostered situations such as the large-scale use of the Melillan health services by Moroccan citizens, with Melilla attending a number of urgencies more than four times the standard for its population in 2018.{{Sfn|Ponce Herrero|Martí Ciriquián|2019|p=116}} In order to satisfy the workforce needs of Melilla (mainly in areas such as [[domestic service]], construction and cross-border bale workers, often under informal contracts), Moroccan inhabitants of the [[province of Nador]] were granted exemptions from visa requirements to enter the autonomous city.{{Sfn|Ponce Herrero|Martí Ciriquián|2019|p=109}} This development in turn induced a strong flux of [[internal migration]] from other Moroccan provinces to Nador, in order to acquire the aforementioned exemption.{{Sfn|Ponce Herrero|Martí Ciriquián|2019|p=109}}

The 'fluid' trans-border relations between Melilla and its surroundings are however not free from conflict, as they are contingent upon the [[Morocco–Spain relations|'tense' trans-national relations between Morocco and Spain]].{{Sfn|Ponce Herrero|Martí Ciriquián|2019|p=118}}

=== Border securitization ===
[[File:Verjamelilla.jpg|thumb|The [[Melilla border fence]] aims to curb illegal immigration into the city.]]
Following the increasing influx of Algerian and sub-Saharan irregular migrants into Ceuta and Melilla in the early 1990s,{{Sfn|Ferrer Gallardo|2008|p=140}} a process of border [[fortification]] in both cities ensued after 1995 to reduce the border's permeability,<ref name=ser>{{Cite web|url=https://cadenaser.com/ser/2018/06/14/sociedad/1529011916_374813.html|website=[[Cadena Ser]]|title=Preguntas y respuestas sobre 20 kilómetros de cuchilas en Ceuta y Melilla|date=14 June 2016|first=Nicolás|last=Castellano}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|page=134|url=https://ddd.uab.cat/pub/dag/02121573n51/02121573n51p129.pdf|title=Acrobacias fronterizas en Ceuta y Melilla. Explorando la gestión de los perímetros terrestres de la Unión Europea en el continente africano|first=Xavier|last=Ferrer Gallardo|year=2008|journal=Documents d'anàlisi geogràfica|issue=51|<!--|pages=129–149-->issn=2014-4512|location=Bellaterra|publisher=[[Autonomous University of Barcelona|Servei de Publicacions de la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona]]}}</ref> a target attained to some degree by 1999,{{Sfn|Ferrer Gallardo|2008|p=140}} although peak level of fortification was reached in 2005.<ref name=ser />

Melilla's border with Morocco is secured by the [[Melilla border fence]], a {{convert|6|m}} tall double fence with watch towers; yet migrants (in groups of tens or sometimes hundreds) storm the fence and manage to cross it from time to time.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-27601215 |title=BBC News – Hundreds breach Spain enclave border |work=BBC News |access-date=28 May 2014}}</ref> Since 2005, at least 14 migrants have died trying to cross the fence.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.abc.es/espana/20140206/abci-menos-inmigrantes-fallecido-desde-201402061712.html|website=[[ABC (Spain)|ABC]]|title=Al menos 27 inmigrantes han fallecido desde 2005 tras los asaltos a la valla|date=6 February 2014}}</ref> The Melilla migrant reception centre was built with a capacity of 480.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-26382589|title=African migrants storm into Spanish enclave of Melilla|access-date=3 March 2014|date=28 February 2014 |publisher=BBC}}</ref> In 2020 works to remove the barbed wire from the top of the fence (meanwhile raising its height up to more than {{convert|10|m}} in the stretches most susceptible to breaches) were commissioned to {{ill|Tragsa|es}}.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.elconfidencial.com/espana/2020-08-16/nuevas-vallas-ceuta-melilla-mas-altas-muro-trump-mexico_2713268/|website=[[El Confidencial]]|title=La nueva valla de Ceuta y Melilla será un metro más alta que el muro de Trump|date=16 August 2020|first=Alejandro|last=Mata}}</ref>

In June 2022, at least 23 sub-Saharan migrants and two Moroccan security personnel were killed when around 2,000 migrants stormed the border. The death toll has been estimated to be as high as 37 by certain NGOs.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-06-26 |title=Calls for investigation over deaths in Moroccan-Spanish border crossing |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jun/26/calls-investigation-deaths-moroccan-spanish-border-melilla-enclave-crossing |access-date=2022-07-27 |website=the Guardian |language=en}}</ref> Around 200 Spanish and Moroccan law enforcement officers and at least 76 migrants were injured. Hundreds of migrants succeeded in breaching the fence, and 133 made it across the border.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-06-26 |title=Death toll rises to 23 in Melilla border-crossing stampede |url=https://www.politico.eu/article/death-toll-23-melilla-border-crossing-stampede/ |access-date=2022-07-27 |website=POLITICO |language=en-US}}</ref> Widely circulated footage showed dozens of motionless migrants piled together.<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Eljechtimi |first1=Ahmed |last2=Keeley |first2=Graham |date=2022-06-25 |title=Dozens of migrants piled together at Melilla border fence |language=en |work=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/dozens-migrants-piled-ground-melilla-disaster-rights-group-says-2022-06-25/ |access-date=2022-07-27}}</ref> It was the worst such incident in Melilla's history.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2022-06-27 |title=Melilla migrant deaths spark anger in Spain |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-61956104 |access-date=2022-07-27}}</ref> The United Nations, the African Union and a number of human rights groups condemned what they deemed excessive force used by Moroccan and Spanish border guards, although no lethal weapons were employed, and the deaths were later attributed to "mechanical asphyxiation".<ref>{{Cite web |title=Moroccan probe finds 23 Melilla border dead likely 'suffocated' |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/7/13/moroccan-probe-says-melilla-migrants-likely-suffocated-to-death |access-date=2022-07-27 |website=www.aljazeera.com |language=en}}</ref>

Morocco has been paid tens of million euros by both Spain and the European Union to outsource the EU migration control.<ref name=publico>{{Cite web|url=https://www.publico.es/sociedad/melilla-ceuta-concertinas-altura-colectivos-melilla-ceuta-denuncian-nuevas-vallas-continuan-vulnerando-derechos-humanos.html|website=[[Público (Spain)|Público]]|title=Menos concertinas y más altura: colectivos de Melilla y Ceuta denuncian que las nuevas vallas continúan vulnerando los derechos humanos|first=Lucía|last=Muñoz Medina|date=29 August 2020}}</ref> Besides the double fence in the Spanish side of the border, there is an additional {{convert|3|m}} high fence entirely made of [[razor wire]] lying on the Moroccan side as well as a moat in between.<ref name=publico />

{{See also|Fortress Europe#Postwar usage|2022 Melilla incident}}