Spain returns 6,600 to Morocco

[left-of-center2012]

So far, authorities have confirmed 438 unaccompanied minors were among more than 8,000 people who arrived in Ceuta, a Spanish enclave in north Africa, from Morocco between Monday and Wednesday by scaling a border fence or swimming around it. Social service workers were checking the ages of many more young people who are in shelters or roaming the streets, Mabel Deu, a local government minister and spokesperson for the autonomous city, said.

“Our goal is that they reunite with their parents as soon as possible because we understand the anguish and worry of many families who don’t know where their children are,” she said.

Morocco has taken back over 6,600 of the migrants who made it to Ceuta, Spanish authorities said. Entering the city put them in European Union territory, and hundreds of thousands of asylum-seekers attempt to reach Europe from Africa each year.

Sovereignty claims over Ceuta and Melilla - another Spanish territory in northern Africa - by Morocco have been an intermittent flashpoint between the two Mediterranean neighbors.

https://apnews.com/article/morocco-europe-spain-africa-migration-80180bf9ec520904302b3407a0fa8b76

[underpants]

1. I had absolutely no idea that Spain had cities in Morocco

Until I heard this story two days ago on NPR.