The emotional wounds of people who arrived without papers: "Here you start from scratch, you are nobody in terms of professions"

People who arrived in Spain without documentation describe profound emotional wounds, often feeling like they start over with no identity in terms of profession or status. Soukaina, born in Morocco, entered Spain one day with nothing but the clothes on her back after enduring severe episodes of violence for refusing a forced marriage. Juan, a Colombian, had no need to migrate but was persecuted for defending the rights of the LGBTQ+ community. “You board that plane with the emptiness of knowing there’s no return,” he says. His compatriot Carolina fled across the Atlantic due to extortion by gangs targeting her business and family. “In 15 days I packed my suitcase and came here.” Joachim left his wife behind after a health issue made treatment unaffordable in Africa. “The only solution was the journey.” Ndarow, from Senegal, simply says, “We are poor.” All arrived without proper documents and live in Spain under varying administrative statuses. When referring to immigrants and asylum seekers, their diversity, motivations, and fears are often overlooked. A study by the social entity Diaconía detailed in 2024 that suicide as a cause of death showed higher proportionality among foreign nationals compared to Spaniards. Psychologist Vilma Hidalgo, researcher with the Zoé Project and co-author of that report, highlights the cultural weight. “Death, life, suffering do not have the same meaning in one culture as another.” Some African migrants take four years to reach Spain, the gateway to Europe. For Senegalese Ndarow, 26, it took two weeks. He sailed in a boat from Mauritania. Of his four days at sea, he recalls the height of waves, the anguish of trying to bail water, and the cries of those begging to return. “I was scared because I don’t know how to swim.” Joachim, 33, embarked on a boat toward Canary Islands from Morocco. Before that, he walked approximately 350 kilometers on foot. The journey was done at night, and from the fourth day onward, without food or water. They did not wait for those who jumped off, never saw again those who got lost, and upon reaching the coast, found bodies returned by the sea. “There is panic everywhere, it's very hard, you can develop a mental health problem.” A boat that had set sail with theirs was located 19 days later. Only seven people remained alive. “On the boat there is panic, it's very hard, you can develop a mental health problem” María Ángeles Plaza, a psychologist at the Spanish Commission for Aid to Refugees (CEAR), summarizes the dangers. “There are criminal networks, ransom requests, sexual slavery, and trauma often more severe than that from the country of origin.” The international protection for individuals seeking asylum, known as refugees, was established by the UN in 1951. Regarding economic migrants, the 1990 International Convention states that all, whether regular or not, have basic rights. However, EU countries have not ratified this convention. “Migration is a fundamental human right,” asserts Joseba Achotegui, psychiatrist and professor at the University of Barcelona. In 1994, he opened the first clinic for immigrants in that city. There, he has treated over 6,000 people and witnessed how documentation gained importance around the year 2000, when the EU developed border controls. After the journey comes the waiting period. Juan spent nearly a week almost confined to the airport, while Soukaina waited eleven months in Ceuta’s CETI center. The sense of displacement emerges. “Fifteen days after landing, I felt the emotional and environmental void, had no one to greet,” recalls Carolina. The migration grief appears with the loss of everything left behind.