The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) decided in favour of Spain on validating migrants’ express deportations in its enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla, the only cases of EU land border with Africa. In 2017, the ECHR condemned Spain over the case of two men who had been pushed back to Moroccan territory after climbing the fence surrounding Melilla. This February, following an appeal by Spanish authorities, the ECHR overturned its own verdict. According to the Court’s decision, the two men “had chosen not to use the legal procedures which existed in order to enter Spanish territory lawfully”, and therefore the rights under the European Convention on Human Rights were not applicable. The European Centre for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR) alerts that this decision sets a dangerous precedent. It allows Spain to continue operating its express deportations, and it paves the way for similar practices all along the EU’s external borders. In its turn, the border observatory on migrations Migreurop stated that the ECHR is des-legitimizing the principle of non-refoulment and that, with this decision, it “endorses the impossibility of applying for asylum in case of illegal border crossing”.