Hundreds of migrant children are stranded in Spain's Ceuta after mass
crossing
[August 04, 2026]
By BERNAT ARMANGUE and JOSEPH WILSON
CEUTA, Spain (AP) — The teenage girl made it through the waves to
Spanish territory. Her little brother did not, drowning in the
Mediterranean, while their mother disappeared in the chaos when tens of
thousands of people surged through the breakwater, trying to leave
Morocco behind.
The tragic story of a 17-year-old from Tangier is representative of the
plight of many of the more than 800 minors who four days after the
collective push by migrants into Ceuta face a scary present and an
uncertain future.
She told an Associated Press photojournalist how she and her family
joined the massive crowd that tried to swim around a border fence to
reach the Spanish territory on Thursday. Like many, she said they did so
seeking better opportunities. The AP is withholding her identity because
she is a minor in a vulnerable situation.
She described how she saw Spanish police pull the body of her 8-year-old
brother from the water.
She made it to the shore but became separated from her mother, and has
spent the last four days on her own. 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.
“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.”
She is one of some 860 minors who remained in Ceuta on Monday after
crossing over, according to local officials. AP journalists saw other
minors asking for food.
Those minors now make up a large part of the 3,000-5,000 migrants who
have avoided expulsion from Ceuta of the original 60,000 who came
across. Spanish authorities confirmed 72 people died, mostly in the
water, during the crossing. Morocco reported 11 deaths which are not
included in the Spanish total, the Spanish interior ministry said.
Minors must be cared for under Spanish law
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.
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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)
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 Spanish soldiers escorting 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.
Most of the Moroccan adults have either voluntarily gone home or
were pushed back by Spanish police. Among those 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.
The city’s migrant center with a capacity for 600 people is
completely full. Food is scarce among the migrants, according to
reporting by AP journalists.
“The strategy is that hunger, thirst and exhaustion forces these
people to finally decide to voluntarily return to Morocco,” said
local migration activist Ramsés Mohamed Azumik of Asociación Elín.
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.
___
Associated Press writer Joseph Wilson in Barcelona, Spain,
contributed to this report.
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