At least 54 minors have reached the North African Spanish exclave of Ceuta by swimming there from Morocco. According to Spanish media, most of them were young Moroccan nationals.
Civil Guard rescue units worked throughout the night to ensure no fatalities during the latest attempt of young migrants trying to reach Spanish territory by swimming several hundred meters at sea from the Moroccan side.
Some of the migrants were intercepted by Spanish authorities and brought to Ceuta on an inflatable boat amid rough seas and low visibility, as seen on an image released by the Spanish broadcaster RTE.
Spain has two exclaves in North Africa — Ceuta and Melilla — both of which are bordered by Morocco.
Ceuta at capacity calls on Spain
Unaccompanied minors are typically allowed to stay on Spanish soil until they are at least 18 years of age. This usually affords them time to lodge detailed asylum claims — even though they're ultimately most likely to be rejected if they are Moroccan nationals.
Under normal circumstances, they are confined to remaining in this small Spanish territory in North Africa.
However, since reception facilities there are at capacity, the regional government — the Assembly of Ceuta — has asked central government in Madrid to take this cohort of young migrants to the mainland.
Adult migrants who reach Ceuta by swimming there meanwhile are increasingly sent back to Morocco quickly under various existing agreements between the Spanish and Moroccan governments.
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Spain's weak flank in fight against irregular migration
Despite the risks involved in trying to enter Spain's two exclaves, migrants continue to try to reach the EU territories from neighboring Morocco.
The greatest number of migrants to ever reach Ceuta was on May 17, 2021, when over 8,000 people managed to swim there or succeeded in reaching Ceuta by scaling the border fence.
One person died during that attempt.
Just over a year later, on 24 June, 2022, at least 23 migrants died while trying to breach the border fence at Melilla.
People trying to reach Spanish territory from Morocco have shifted their focus largely on taking dangerous sea journeys from Morocco to the Canary Islands.
However of almost 20,000 who made it to Spain in total so far this year, over seven percent managed to reach the Spanish exclave of Ceuta.
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with dpa, Reuters