Map of Europe Still Has Its Borders

Rather than catching illegal entrants, French border police found themselves collaring platoons of conspicuous, bewildered migrants as they tried to leave the country for Spain, beckoned by a legalization program.

On the other side of the line, Spanish police swarmed usually unguarded checkpoints on roads and railways to intercept border-crossers, then herded them back into France to beat a four-hour deadline for returning the detainees.

"This kind of thing happens every time a country undertakes a legalization," said Thierry Guiguet-Doron, the chief of the border police in this sector of France's boundary with Spain. "The word spreads and the undocumented around Europe mobilize."

With most internal borders officially erased, travel within the European Union resembles a flight from Los Angeles to Chicago or a drive across the California-Nevada state line. The shuttered inspection booths and skeletal remnants of ports of entry are manned only for spot checks or special operations targeting suspected criminals.

But the boundaries remain politically charged fault lines. The ideal of a unified, borderless community of nations collides with the reality of disparate laws and attitudes regarding sovereignty, security and citizenship. Smugglers and migrants exploit the open borders and diverse policies to float among countries in search of jobs and papers.

The case of Said Farid, a boyish migrant with a bowl-shaped haircut and a nervous smile, illustrates that convoluted reality.

Farid, 30, found himself in the French border police lockup here this month. He claimed to be an Afghan fleeing political persecution, although police believed that he was actually Pakistani.

Farid recounted an odyssey that took him by plane from Pakistan to an unknown destination, a clandestine boat crossing to Italy, furtive road travel by night. In Paris late last month, he joined groups of fellow South Asians who boarded an overnight high-speed train bound for Spain via the Hendaye crossing.

French police say smugglers marshaled part of the exodus but that some migrants were drawn simply by rumors of an opportunity in the south.

Farid insisted that he didn't know that Spain was offering a legalization program. He claimed that he didn't even realize that he had arrived at a border.