According to the Schengen agreement, signed in 1985 and in force since 1995, the European Union would strengthen controls at external borders and establish a common area where people can move freely in the countries that signed it. But the reality is very different.

The French state has made routinary border controls that Schengen agreement authorises only in exceptional cases, thus making it difficult for African migrants to move to Europe in search of a new life.

Since a group of West African migrants appeared on the streets of Irun, in the summer of 2018, unable to cross the border that divides the states of France and Spain, many people have become aware that Irun is a transit point for immigrants. A path that the police obstruct with many obstacles, but a route nonetheless.