Scare campaigns against migrant workers can harm Europe's food security

According to Diana Tung, postdoctoral researcher at the University of Barcelona, Spain, and Seth M. Holmes, ICREA researcher at the Institute of Social Anthropology, Hub for Global Social Medicine, University of Barcelona; ICREA; University of California, Berkeley, a deep humanitarian crisis unfolded in Ceuta in August 2026. Ceuta is a small Spanish enclave on Morocco's northern coast. Around 72,000 people entered from Morocco over two days, with more than 100 drowning while attempting to cross into Spanish territory. Most migrants quickly returned to Morocco, but currently up to 5,000 remain in Ceuta, many of them unaccompanied minors, trapped in an unresolved legal and political limbo. Across Europe, right-wing politicians have seized upon the humanitarian crisis in Ceuta as an opportunity to stoke racism and xenophobia. Spain's far-right party Vox fears "illegal, uncontrolled, and reckless migration." Italian President Giorgia Meloni declared on X that Italy would not "budge an inch on illegal immigration" and suspended the Schengen agreements with Spain. This stance is reflected more broadly in the European Parliament. The EU's return regulation—a system to "return" third-country nationals, which includes holding people in centers outside the EU for up to two years before deportation—was adopted in June. It was met with applause and shouts of "send them back" from far-right members of the European Parliament. However, while scare campaigns against migrants may be effective at the ballot box, they ultimately harm Europe. Hard migration policies not only damage migrants and their families but are also well-documented to actively harm national economies, productivity, nutrition, and health. The tragedy in Ceuta was remarkable in its scale, but the circumstances surrounding it are not. Migrants are increasingly used as political pawns across Europe and the rest of the world, while simultaneously sustaining the infrastructures and economies that form the backbone of daily life and health. Our research project 'FOODCIRCUITS' traces the food sold in Europe and the USA to gain a deeper understanding of migrant workers' roles and experiences. A branch of the project focuses on Spain's globally significant supply chains for citrus fruits and demonstrates how migrants are kept out of sight within transnational systems of production, transport, and consumption of citrus. Our research follows the (often contradictory) movement of people and food around the globe, as well as the policies regulating movement, legality, and human and workers' rights. Through original, long-term fieldwork on the ground, we aim to contribute much-needed perspective and context to current debates on migration and the controversies surrounding them. Extensive research has shown that agricultural workers worldwide are disproportionately exposed to hazardous working conditions. Agricultural workers with informal or unresolved status face increased health risks, leading to a higher likelihood of injuries and fatalities. As Europe's fourth-largest agricultural producer and one of the world's largest citrus producers, Spain is well aware of its dependence on migrants. Officially, they make up about 30% of all agricultural workers, though the actual number is likely much higher due to undercounting undocumented workers. From stone fruit plantations in Lleida, orange groves in Valencia, to vast strawberry fields in Huelva, migrant workers play a crucial role in Europe's food supply. They are also indispensable to the Spanish agricultural industry, which has an annual value of 43.9 billion euros. In Europe, one in four pieces of fresh fruit consumed is produced in Spain. This remarkable statistic is only possible because of the unrecognized work of migrant farmworkers. Spain's special regularization scheme earlier this year prompted nearly 1.2 million undocumented individuals to apply for legal status and the right to work. This step aims to reduce exploitative working conditions and improve access to healthcare and other vital services. The final number of applicants was more than twice the initial estimates. The enormous demand for legalization highlights how hidden migrants have become to the wider society and how much their work is taken for granted. Although the scheme imposes strict requirements on applicants, it has faced attacks from populist right-wing groups, which label the number of applications as an "migration invasion." Other EU countries have even blamed the regularization scheme for the crisis in Ceuta, calling it a "pull factor" for migrants. But from Ceuta to mainland Spain and across Europe, migrants are routinely scapegoated, wrongly blamed for societal problems, and used to fuel xenophobic sentiments for political gain. Because migrants' valuable and indispensable contributions to society are often invisible, there is a need to scrutinize carefully when and how they are pushed into the news cycle. This opinion piece was originally published in English on The Conversation on July 31.