Ceuta, Spain, and Fnideq, Morocco, are physically separated by only a mile, but they are intertwined by family and trade. A recent border crisis is the latest chapter in their stor…

Ceuta, Spain, and Fnideq, Morocco, are physically separated by only a mile, but they are intertwined by family and trade. A recent border crisis is the latest chapter in their story. Ceuta, Spain, and Fnideq, Morocco, are physically separated by only a mile, but they are intertwined by family and trade. A recent border crisis is the latest chapter in their story. A border fence, seen from Fnideq, Morocco, divides the country from the Spanish territory of Ceuta.Credit... The two North African towns are only a mile apart, but vast differences separate them. Ceuta sits near the northernmost tip of Morocco and juts into the Mediterranean Sea like an elephant’s trunk. It is a territory of Spain whose people enjoy the benefits of membership in the European Union. Compared with Fnideq, which is just south along the coast, it is wealthy. Fnideq is in Morocco, where economic prospects for many young people are bleak. In recent days, the divide between these communities collapsed as tens of thousands of migrants from Morocco and sub-Saharan Africa pushed from around Fnideq into Ceuta. The upheaval captured global attention, including that of President Trump. It was just the latest chapter in the tangled history between the two cities, whose people have been mixing and trading for generations even as their governments’ policies and disputes have hardened the border between them. The latest crisis illustrated, in condensed form, the perennial reality that has bedeviled governments across the globe that try to control illegal migration: that economic disparity will motivate strivers across borders, often at great risk to themselves, to seek better lives.