The Struggle Against Deportation of Bangladeshi and Indian Immigrants at the Border Cities of Ceuta and Melilla: a Case Study of Citizenship After Orientalism

Abstract

ABSTRACT Several groups of Bangladeshi and Indian migrants where confined between 2005 and 2011 in temporary holding centers for immigrants in Ceuta and Melilla, two Spanish (European) border enclaves in North Africa. To prevent being deported, one day several men escaped from a holding center, known as a CETI (Centro de Estancia Temporal de Inmigrantes) and their struggle created a number of support movements not only in Ceuta and Melilla but also across the Mediterranean. This paper focuses on the various acts of citizenship (demonstrations, occupation of immigration offices, and legal advocacy) that arose, particularly in cities such as Madrid and Barcelona, to fight for these men to be transferred to the mainland and to prevent their deportation. The day they escaped was also the day they stopped being double victims of neo-Orientalism– both of the smugglers who had extorted them for years through the deserts of North Africa, and of the European border regime that confined them at these border sites. This article is a case study of citizenship after Orientalism.