Children in a strange land: the plight of the 1,000 minor migrants still in Spain’s Ceuta

Children in a strange land: the plight of the 1,000 minor Migrants still in Spain’s Ceuta 0 seconds of 55 secondsVolume 0% Press shift question mark to access a list of keyboard shortcuts Keyboard ShortcutsEnabledDisabled Shortcuts Open/Close/ or ? Play/PauseSPACE Increase Volume↑ Decrease Volume↓ Seek Forward→ Seek Backward← Captions On/Offc Fullscreen/Exit Fullscreenf Mute/Unmutem Decrease Caption Size- Increase Caption Size+ or = Seek %0-9 Next Up Trump says US could see surge of Migrants like Spain if Republicans don't win midterms 01:27 00:00 00:55 00:55 More Videos 01:27 Trump says US could see surge of Migrants like Spain if Republicans don't win midterms 00:39 Gregg Araki declares it's 'Olivia summer' for Olivia Wilde 01:13 Dr. Fauci repeatedly invokes Fifth Amendment in Republican-led COVID-19 Senate hearing 00:58 Olivia Wilde says age has brought creative liberation 00:50 'Spider-Man: Brand New Day' makes box office history 01:25 The Mediterranean's warming waters are drawing hundreds of invasive species 01:00 Crowds of Migrants swim around border from Morocco into Spanish territory of Ceuta 00:30 Crowd breaks through border from Spanish territory of Ceuta from Morocco Close 1 of 6 | Days after tens of thousands of Migrants crossed from Morocco into Spain’s North African enclave of Ceuta, families on Monday kept searching for their loved ones. Although most of the Migrants returned voluntarily by Friday evening, young men continued to stream back across the border Monday. 2 of 6 | A 12-year-old Unaccompanied minor who crossed into Spain is escorted by a Spanish soldier to the Spain-Morocco border as the child begs not to be sent back to Morocco from the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, Monday, Aug. 3, 2026. The forced deportation of the Unaccompanied minor was stopped by a High-ranking official a few meters before the child reached the border after residents and journalists said the migrant was a minor. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue) 3 of 6 | A 12-year-old Unaccompanied minor who crossed into Spain is escorted by a Spanish soldier to the Spain-Morocco border from the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, Monday, Aug. 3, 2026. The forced deportation of the Unaccompanied minor was stopped by a High-ranking official a few meters before the child reached the border after residents and journalists said the migrant was a minor. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue) 4 of 6 | Migrants, who crossed from Morocco into Spain, gather in a warehouse area near the Spain-Morocco border in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, Monday, Aug. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue) 5 of 6 | Migrants who crossed into Spain from Morocco gather around a bonfire on a beach in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, Sunday, Aug. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue) 6 of 6 | Migrants who crossed into Spain from Morocco sleep on a beach in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, Monday, Aug. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue) By Bernat Armangue and JOSEPH WILSON Updated 4:26 PM MESZ, August 4, 2026 Leer en español Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Ceuta, Spain (AP) — The dead have been recovered from the waters off Ceuta. Most of the Migrants who forced their way across the frontier into Spain have gone back to Morocco. In the enclave city, shops are open nearly a week after it became the epicenter of a European migration crisis. But an estimated 1,000 minors — among the most vulnerable of those who crossed the border — remain in Ceuta, staying without their families in a foreign land. One 17-year-old girl told The Associated Press how she watched her 8-year-old brother drown as Migrants made a chaotic crossing around a breakwater and a subsequent stampede on the rocky shore to avoid the border fence last Thursday at the peak of the migration surge. She was separated from her mother and has been begging on the streets of Ceuta since. The AP is withholding her identity because she is a minor in a vulnerable situation. “I saw people stepping on the dead,” she said through a translator since she doesn’t speak Spanish. “Now we are children begging on the street.” Spain’s Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska on Tuesday gave a fresh estimate of the Migrants who pushed into Ceuta last week, saying a total of around 72,000 crossed over. Of those, he said, 70,000 had returned. Local official Alejandro Ramírez, however, said that it was impossible to know the exact number, which he estimated to be closer to 3,000-5,000 remaining in the city. The Spanish minister also increased the death toll to 75 people who perished mostly in the water, during the crossing. Morocco reported 11 deaths which are not included in the Spanish total, the Spanish interior ministry said. ‘I just want a chance': Moroccans sought better future in collective crossing to Spain territory 1 MIN READ FACT FOCUS: Migrant crossing in Spain’s Ceuta breeds unsubstantiated claims 5 MIN READ Runaway online rumors sparked frantic rush by Migrants to the Spanish territory of Ceuta 5 MIN READ Spanish authorities said many of the Migrants went back voluntarily after they saw that there was little chance to reach mainland Europe, or that the tiny enclave of 84,000 people was unable or unwilling to accommodate them. Spanish security forces have rounded up others, placing them on trucks and taking them back to the border, but by law, they’re not supposed to do that with unaccompanied minors. Like many Migrants, the teenage girl from Tangier came to Ceuta, perched on the north African coast, driven by a viral social media onslaught to try a mad dash to Spain seeking better opportunities. She said some locals gave her food and some clothing, with one woman taking her into her home so she could bathe. She then went to a center for youths run by the government for some help, but found it was full. The inverse drama was seen in Fnideq on the Moroccan side of the border where parents were hoping to see their children come home. Ibtissam Chari has been waiting for signs of life from her son, called Rayan. He left Morocco with a group of friends last week. She knows he made it across because he was able to get word to her that he made it to Ceuta. But since then, she hadn’t heard from him. “Every day, we come here in the hope to have any news but there is none,” she said. “Some of his friends from the same neighborhood came back home, which is good news. I heard that many people died. May God protect us.” Spanish law says that adult Migrants can apply for asylum. If rejected, they will face expulsion procedures. The bar is normally very high for Moroccans to be granted humanitarian protection. Migrant minors who are unaccompanied by adults, however, are supposed to be granted protection and taken care of by Spanish authorities. An AP journalist witnessed Monday how Spanish soldiers escorted an unaccompanied Moroccan boy who was crying and begging not to be sent back to Morocco. A few meters before reaching the border, and due to pressure from local residents who insisted he was a minor, as well as the presence of the media, a lieutenant colonel in the Spanish Army stopped the repatriation and transferred the boy to the Spanish Civil Guard. AP journalists, however, witnessed Spanish security forces ushering other young Migrants toward the border. Spain’s government announced Tuesday that it has earmarked 25 million euros ($28.8 million) to be spent on assisting the minors in Ceuta. Spain’s Civil Guard also said Tuesday that it was opening an office for missing persons at the customs house on the border, as well as providing an email address for people to write to with missing persons reports. An AP reporter was unable to arrive at the customs house on the Moroccan side on Tuesday without a European passport or visa. “In Spain, the fundamental rights of minors as vulnerable individuals are respected, as are those of adults,” Grande-Marlaska told reporters in Madrid Tuesday. Food is main concern for those Migrants still in Ceuta Among the adult Migrants who remain in Ceuta are significant numbers of people from other countries, including Sudanese fleeing their war-torn country, Palestinians from Gaza and Afghans, as well as people from several African nations. Food is scarce among the Migrants, according to reporting by AP journalists. Authorities organized food distribution among the remaining Migrants late on Monday. Ahmed Chenaf, a 25-year-old Moroccan man, told of the poor conditions he experienced in Ceuta before returning. He said he didn’t eat for two days. “To those thinking of trying to reach Ceuta: you will suffer. All the grocery stores (were) closed. There is no food, and no one wanted to sell us anything,” he said. The city’s migrant center with a capacity for 600 people is completely full. Many Migrants sleep or rest on the beach or hills surrounding the speck of Spain. In the hazy distance, mainland Europe, their ultimate goal, lies across the sea. Joseph Wilson reported from Barcelona, Spain. Associated Press writer Akram Oubachir and video journalist Majd Semlali contributed from Fnideq, Morocco. JOSEPH WILSON Wilson covers Spanish news and sports for The Associated Press. He is based in Barcelona. twitter mailto