“Clearly this was all of the ingredients of something that was seeming organized in order to have pressure on Spain,” he says. Bildt also highlights how the crisis was amplified by political actors across Europe and the United States, as well as Russian propaganda. The influx revived fears of a repeat of Europe’s 2015 refugee crisis, with Italian officials even discussing the possibility of suspending the Schengen Agreement. But nearly all of the migrants returned to Morocco after finding they could not enter mainland Spain. Bildt says the migrant rush ultimately underscores both the vulnerability of Europe’s borders and the extent to which migration can be exploited for political purposes.