Migrants Brave Thick Mist to Swim to Ceuta: Hundreds Reach Spanish Enclave

Hundreds of migrants swam from Morocco to the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, leveraging thick mist. The Guardia Civil police intercepted many near El Tarajal beach. Police have been intercepting around 700 migrants per day. Moroccan nationals are sent back unless underage or asylum seekers; others are sheltered briefly.

Hundreds of migrants took advantage of a thick mist to swim to the Spanish enclave of Ceuta from neighboring Morocco on Sunday and early on Monday, local police said.

Spain's two enclaves on Morocco's Mediterranean coast, Ceuta and Melilla, sporadically experience waves of attempted crossings by migrants trying to reach Europe. Many of the migrants arriving in the past 24 hours were intercepted near or on El Tarajal beach next to the Ceuta-Morocco border, a spokesperson for the Guardia Civil police told Reuters.

"There was pressure and we handled it with Morocco," the spokesperson said, but declined to provide an exact number of people who had attempted to cross or were sent back to Morocco. Police have intercepted an average of around 700 migrants trying to enter Ceuta each day since Thursday, with up to 1,500 people making the attempt on Sunday night, according to Cristina Perez, the Spanish government's representative in Ceuta. Moroccan nationals detained during the crossings are immediately sent back to Morocco unless they are underage or seeking asylum, Perez said. People from other nationalities are taken to special centers where they are given shelter and released after a few days.