CEUTA – Spain’s north African enclave of Ceuta awoke to a humanitarian crisis on Wednesday after thousands of migrants who crossed over from Morocco spent the night sleeping where they could find shelter.
Exhausted by either scaling a double-wide border fence or swimming in the Mediterranean, some migrants spent the night in an overcrowded warehouse under the gaze of Spanish police.
More than 8,000 people crossed into Spanish territory during the previous two days, with many risking their lives by swimming around a breakwater to reach a beach on the European side.
Spain’s Interior Ministry said that it had returned roughly half of the migrants, but there were many unaccompanied minors which Spanish law says must be taken into care by