'I just want a chance': Moroccans sought better future in collective crossing to Spain territory

CEUTA, Spain (AP) — When he heard the border had been breached, Abdulah Buji jumped on his motorbike and raced from his home in northern Morocco toward Ceuta, joining tens of thousands of people trying to swim into the tiny Spanish territory in North Africa.

Like many of his fellow countrymen, Buji was inspired by the thought that this collective crossing could somehow unlock his dream of reaching Spain and starting a new life in Europe.

“Spain gives you the chance to make your future, not like Morocco,” said Buji, a 21-year-old who is studying to be a teacher. “I am a talented boy. I just want a chance.”

But his elation at setting foot on Spanish soil was quickly followed by the disheartening realization that he was still far from his ultimate goal. Mainland Europe rested across the Mediterranean, and he and the new arrivals were unwanted. Spanish authorities ordered everyone to turn around and go back or face eventual expulsion.

Buji said he almost joined more than 50 people who died trying to reach Ceuta while swimming around a border fence. He made it across, but he lost his belongings and money in the crossing. When he realized that he would likely face legal limbo and detention, he turned around and headed back.

“I’ve spent perhaps 14 years studying, but there’s nothing at home, and I’d have to work 12-hour shifts for a meager wage,” Buji told The Associated Press. “That’s why I came here, but I haven’t found any opportunities here either, so I have to go back.”

Of the 60,000 people who crossed between Thursday and Friday morning, some 45,000 had returned to Moroccan territory within hours after many spent the night on the streets of Ceuta amid startled locals and armed Spanish police and soldiers.

The massive influx of people, which totaled 70% of Ceuta’s resident population, sparked calls by local Spanish authorities for police and the army to establish order. Locals were concerned by the thousands of mostly young men aimlessly walking the streets.

Ceuta’s residents recalled a similar but smaller migration crisis in 2021, when the Moroccan government dropped its border controls and let several thousand people from Morocco and sub-Saharan countries into Ceuta over two days. The city faced a much larger humanitarian crisis this time.

As the first reports and videos of migrants reaching Ceuta spread on social media, more people headed north in hopes of reaching European Union territory. Train stations in Morocco’s capital, Rabat, and in the country’s largest city, Casablanca, were crowded with people trying to travel to the border with Ceuta. Local media showed police officers preventing some of them from boarding trains and buses.

It isn’t clear what triggered the influx, but social media was awash with posts encouraging Moroccans to try to enter Ceuta days before it began, said Myriam Cherti, a senior researcher at the University of Oxford’s Centre on Migration, Policy and Society. The posts included practical information on how to cross the border and what migrants should say to increase their chances of being allowed to stay.

Cherti said some of the migrants she interviewed over the past year had lost count of the number of times they had tried to cross the border.

“They’re doing it out of despair, they’re doing it because they’ve tried other ways to build a life and failed, they’re doing it because they feel the obligation that they want to help their families and support them,” she said. “And that’s possible if they make it to Spain and not necessarily possible if they stay” in Morocco.

Ahmed Karim, 33, was among those who managed to cross into Ceuta. He doesn't have work and says the problem is compounded for many Moroccans due to the difficulty in traveling outside the country.

He said many Moroccans want to go to Europe or America, “but they don’t have the opportunity.”

Other people who crossed, however, were not coming to stay; they were searching for lost loved ones and hoping they were not among the dead.

Ikrra Khai, 33, is one of thousands of Moroccan women who regularly get temporary job permits to work on Spanish farms at harvest time.

On Friday she was in Ceuta looking for the brother of a good friend.

“I don’t know if he is dead or alive,” she said. “I have his residency card. But I don’t know where he is. I’m searching.”

Joseph Wilson reported from Barcelona, Spain. Danica Kirka in London and Akram Oubachir in Fnideq, Morocco, contributed.