Spain Orders Transfer of 500 Unaccompanied Girls from Ceuta, Defying EU Calls for Returns

Overview

• A mass crossing that flooded Ceuta on July 30–31 produced roughly 72,000 arrivals and prompted Spain to say about 70,000 people have since been returned to Morocco while thousands remain in the enclave.
• The central government has opened emergency reception centres for about 1,800 people and is executing a plan to transfer roughly 500 unaccompanied migrant girls to the Spanish mainland under a royal decree‑law.
• Madrid is invoking Spanish law that requires the State to protect unaccompanied minors until age 18 to justify relocating the girls rather than immediate repatriation to Morocco.
• The European Commission has publicly urged rapid returns of migrants — including minors — to Morocco, creating a clash between Brussels' interpretation of EU return rules and Spain's child‑protection approach.
• At least 15 complaints of sexual assault have been opened since the late‑July influx, NGOs are being considered to manage vulnerable cases, several regions have refused to take relocated minors, and police have arrested traffickers moving migrants to the peninsula.