Rabat – Over 300 migrants of sub-Saharan origin attempted to enter the Spanish enclave of Ceuta on Thursday, October 7.
Sources from the Civil Guard Command in Ceuta told Spanish news agency Europa Press that their surveillance systems detected a group of around 300 undocumented sub-Saharan immigrants around 2:30 a.m. in the forests surrounding Belyounech, a small village located 7 kilometers from Ceuta.
Europa Press reports that another group between 150 and 200 immigrants started appearing in the same location at 5 a.m. and were soon intercepted by the Moroccan police without further intervention of the Reserve and Security Group (GRS).
Many migrants residing in irregular camps based in the forests in Tetouan and Tangier in northern Morocco arrange collective attempts to cross the borders given the region’s geographic proximity with the Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla.
This latest incident comes a little over four months after Ceuta experienced its biggest migratory crisis in decades, when an estimated number of 12,000 irregular migrants swarmed into the city through the breakwaters of Tajaral and Benzu.
Following the mass migration attempt in Ceuta, the central Spanish government gave Ceuta’s local government a six-month deadline to repatriate hundreds of unaccompanied Moroccan minors residing in the city.
To overcome the crisis unfolding on the Spanish-Moroccan border, the Spanish government also expressed its will to help minors to safely return to their families through hiring social workers from the State Public Employment Service (SEPE) and Darija (Moroccan Arabic) translators to facilitate communication with the migrants.
