Production: By Europod, in co-production with Sphera Network.

EUobserver is proud to have an editorial partnership with Europod to co-publish the podcast series “Briefed” hosted by Léa Marchal. The podcast is available on all major platforms.

Find the full transcript below:

All migrants, including minors, who arrived in Ceuta on 30 July are supposed to return to Morocco, according to the European Commission.

But Spain recently announced it would transfer 500 unaccompanied minors from Ceuta to mainland Spain.

So what happened to the tens of thousands of migrants who entered the Spanish enclave in July?

Let’s go back to what happened.

At the end of July, thousands of migrants crossed into Ceuta, the small Spanish enclave on Morocco’s northern coast. Most arrived by swimming or along the coast. A much smaller number of people also reached Melilla, the other Spanish enclave on Morocco’s northern coast. 

But Ceuta has been under the spotlight, because the scale of the arrivals quickly overwhelmed Ceuta’s limited reception capacity. It is estimated that roughly 80,000 people entered the territory in less than 24 hours.

So, nearly a month later, where are those migrants now?

Well, the vast majority have been returned to Morocco. But not everyone.

Ceuta’s president says between 3,000 and 5,000 migrants could still be on the enclave. Many of them are unaccompanied minors.

Officially, around 860 minors are currently being accommodated in Ceuta.

The problem is that the enclave’s regular reception facilities are designed for just 29.

Temporary accommodation has been set up, but some young migrants are reportedly still sleeping rough.

In that context, Spain has decided to transfer 500 unaccompanied minors to mainland Spain — both to relieve pressure on Ceuta and to ensure that these children receive appropriate protection.

And this is happening even though Morocco has said it is ready to take back all its nationals, and despite the fact that the European Commission is calling for migrants who arrived illegally in July to return to Morocco.

The question we should be asking is: why has Spain not been able to return everyone so far?

It just has to do with the rules that apply to arrivals of illegal migrants.

In theory, they are all set to go back to where they came at some point. In some particular cases, this return can be carried out in expeditiously.

But on a regular basis, returns have to follow a certain procedure — basically, a formal return decision issued by Spain on a case-by-case basis.

Usually, people are granted a period during which they can leave voluntarily — something many of the migrants actually did.

If they do not leave voluntarily after a given period, Spain can then enforce the return, so to speak. But migrants must also be given the possibility to appeal the return decision. another thing that can potentially delay the push back.

Last but not least, the conditions for returning unaccompanied minors are much stricter. Authorities need to take into account the best interests of the child before returning them, and in most cases, it is just not possible to force their return immediately, for instance because their parents are not identified back home.

For all these reasons, Ceuta is now facing a difficult situation. 

Spain has asked the European Union for assistance to secure the border on the one hand, and to deal with the influx of people on the other.

The European Commission said yesterday it was assessing that request, but it also repeated that it was ready to help.

The crisis is far from over. Ceuta, just like Melilla, remains fragile. Both enclaves are affected by political tensions between Spain and Morocco, and the events there are also fuelling a harsh anti-migration stance in the EU.

In other words, there is a lot at stake for Spain, whose position on migration is increasingly at odds with that of the rest of the EU.