If I were to tell you that the beautiful, iconic country of Spain is facing a law breaking, mass immigration crisis from thousands of Africans on mainland Africa, would you believe me?

Well, you better believe me because it's true.

Cue the cities of Ceuta and Melilla: Spanish enclaves for the last 500 or so years located on the African continent. They serve as modern day military bases and trade outposts, despite how obviously imperialistic it is (long live the empire, am I right?)

Quick history lesson in case you didn't know: Spain used to be an empire.

And that's the lesson that brings us to where we are today. To a conflict that is ultimately overlooked by the international community; a conflict in a place you may not have even known exists...

For those who may not understand what this means: Those two squares on the map are in the African country of Morocco. Above Morocco, as you can see, is Spain. But, those are Spanish cities. And it looks something like this close up:

"So, you're telling me there are two tiny pieces of Spain on Africa? OK cool. How is this important to my life?"

If you're reading this, I am sure you have an opinion about immigration. Assuming you live in the United States, you've heard of immigration crises before and sort of cringe when you hear debates about it. But even out of the U.S., immigrants and migrants are a huge issue governments have to face.

Take any immigration issue in the U.S., multiply it by 100, and that gives you: Ceuta and Melilla.

Specifically dealing with Melilla: three razor wire fences on the Spanish side, and two on the Moroccan side, separate Europe from Africa. Thousands upon thousands of (hopeful) immigrants from the Ivory Coast, Niger, Cameroon, Burkina Faso, and many other African nations stand on one side: Police stand ready at the other.

The situation is grim. Immigrants live in makeshift camps on the nearby mountains overlooking the enclaves, some for years at a time, trying and trying to find a way into Europe. Many of the immigrants come to provide a better life for their families, fleeing home not because they think of Europe as heaven: but because the country they are coming from is impossible to live in.

The stakes are incredibly high too. If you make it across the insanely tall fences, you are technically on Spanish soil. EU law says you cannot be deported and must be legally processed. Therefore, you have a chance to make it to the mainland and make a new life for yourself.

The only problem: There's a fence. Three of them, if I haven't mentioned that already (costing near a billion euros.)

But to make things even worse, you have the Guardia Civil that is violating EU policy and deporting immigrants they capture.

"Push backs", as they are called, are highly illegal, but happen nearly every day.

All of this is happening as we speak. It is happening in a place you may have first learned about today!

Thousands have been killed. And it serves as just another example of the treatment of the some 50 million displaced migrants around the world.

Spain is Europe's back door with Africa: only its an illegal, violent, controversial back door that if you walk through, you're only going right back through it.