CEUTA, Spain—Numerous recent illegal border crossers are still in Ceuta, and the Spanish exclave is straining under their presence.
Authorities reported tens of thousands of people crossing into the city from Morocco starting on July 30, but the majority returned home.
Ceuta’s border fence is now nearly deserted, but the city’s migrant reception center is swamped, with crowds pressing against the gates of a facility filled far past capacity.
Built to accommodate 512 people, the facility was already at capacity, with hundreds more waiting outside, The Epoch Times observed on Aug. 2.
Many of the new arrivals in the city are in their 20s or older, but some are very young. Several of those The Epoch Times spoke with were as young as 13.
Among them, Nazir, 14, and Wassim and Yassine, both 15, reported sleeping in the streets. But they are determined to stay. They said that their parents knew of their circumstances and had even encouraged them to head to Europe for work.
Beyond the harsh living conditions, these teenagers also face danger, particularly those who drift into Barrio del Príncipe, a neighborhood known for gang violence, jihadism, and drug trafficking.
Near the crossing, a woman of Moroccan origin named Georgina, who gave only her first name and who had entered Ceuta with her daughter with plans to travel on to Madrid, lashed out at members of the army on Aug. 1, saying that she had seen some of these teenagers being assaulted and accusing the soldiers of not doing enough to protect them.
“The Moroccan residents of Ceuta are beating these children who came in illegally. They don’t want anyone here. Only themselves. These poor boys have no one to protect them, no one but God!” she told The Epoch Times.
Thousands Remain
Daniel and Lucas, two Ceuta residents who gave only their first names and who spoke with The Epoch Times on Aug. 2, said they had locked themselves in their home as soon as they learned that a group of illegal immigrants had tried to enter a friend’s house after the deadly July 30 surge at the border.Mayor-President of Ceuta Juan Jesús Vivas told Spanish newspaper El País that 88 people were confirmed to have died in the surge.
With most of those who crossed now back in Morocco, residents said the city’s biggest challenge no longer comes from the border but from the migrants who stayed.
Vivas estimated on Aug. 3 that 3,000 to 5,000 immigrants remain in the city, scattered across neighborhoods and hillsides. Officials warned that normal life has not yet returned.
Impact on Ceuta
Ceuta’s relatively affluent historic center sits apart from its poorer city districts along the border, such as El Príncipe and Los Rosales. The migrant influx and its most visible incidents have unfolded largely out of sight of downtown.In the border districts, residents have been improvising their own defenses: In Los Rosales, streets have been sealed off with construction fencing.
Assigning Blame
Spanish authorities say more than 60,000 people entered, the largest influx Ceuta has ever recorded. The Vivas government puts crossings closer to 80,000.Questions have mounted over how the crisis came about.
Madrid first found itself at the center of a controversy after Spanish online outlet The Objective published an Aug. 1 article alleging that the government had received multiple intelligence warnings of a potential migrant surge in Ceuta and Melilla in the days leading up to Morocco’s Throne Day.
The government ignored those warnings, the outlet stated, even though intelligence services pointed to the unusual arrival of large numbers of buses in Castillejos, the Moroccan town closest to the Ceuta border, and to the likelihood that King Mohammed VI would temporarily ease controls at the border for the major national public holiday.
Alberto Núñez Feijóo, leader of the conservative People’s Party, told reporters in Spain that the influx was “a premeditated occupation” and said that Spaniards “have the right to demand that the Government explain why it failed to act.”
The same day, the Spanish government denied receiving such intelligence reports.
—Etienne Fauchaire; Stacy Robinson
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