■ Spain expelled nearly half of the thousands of migrants who poured across the Moroccan border.
Humanitarian crisis for North African city
CEUTA, Spain — Spain deployed its military to the Morocco border Tuesday and expelled nearly half of the roughly 8,000 migrants who jumped fences or swam onto European soil over two days after Rabat loosened border controls.
Overwhelmed soldiers separated the adults from the young and carried children in their arms, while Red Cross workers helped an endless trickle of migrants who were emerging from the water shivering and exhausted.
The sudden influx of migrants has fueled a diplomatic spat between Rabat and Madrid over the disputed Western Sahara region and created a humanitarian crisis for Ceuta, the Spanish city of 85,000 on the Mediterranean Sea, separated from Morocco by a double-wide, 32-foot fence.
Amina Farkani, a 31-year-old Moroccan woman who commuted to jobs in Ceuta for 18 years until foreign workers were banned from entering when coronavirus outbreaks began to surge last year, said she saw an opportunity to go back to work when she heard that police were not controlling the border.
“They let people pass and stand there without speaking,” Farkani said. “People just pass and pass and pass.”
Farkani was among the thousands of migrants who were sent back to Morocco. AP reporters saw Spanish military personnel and police officers ushering both adults and children through a gate in the border fence. Some tried to resist and were pushed and chased by soldiers.
Interior Minister Fernando Grande-marlaska denied that unaccompanied migrants under 18, who are allowed to remain legally under the tutelage of Spanish authorities, were being deported.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez canceled a trip to Paris, where he was to attend a summit on aid to Africa, and flew by helicopter to Ceuta. While calling Morocco a “friend of Spain,” Sánchez also urged authorities to “respect the shared border.”
A senior Moroccan Foreign Ministry official said the government had recalled its ambassador to Spain for consultations.
At least 4,000 migrants were returned to Morocco, according to Spain’s Interior Ministry. Morocco and Spain signed an agreement three decades ago to expel all those who swim across the border.