The framing of migration as a hybrid military threat. Insights from the Ceuta's 2021 'crisis'.

This article examines the large-scale irregular border crossing into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta in May 2021, situating it within ongoing migration crises and border spectacles while highlighting its unique geopolitical context and consequences. It analyzes how political and media narratives framed the event both as a humanitarian crisis—portraying migrants as victims—and as a security threat, depicting migrants as instruments of coercion by the Moroccan government, thereby reconciling previously opposing moralization and threat frames. Through qualitative analysis of textual and visual media narratives from Spanish national and local outlets, the study reveals how these narratives contributed to legitimizing exceptionalist state practices, including militarized border control and pushbacks, and influenced policy shifts such as Spain's altered stance on Western Sahara and NATO's recognition of migration instrumentalization as a hybrid military threat. The article underscores the role of media in constructing migration as a securitized spectacle, shaping public perception and political responses at the Euro-African border.