Morocco says it will cooperate with Spain on returning migrants from Ceuta. The promise still leaves thousands in limbo, including about 3,000 minors.
Morocco has promised to work with Spain on returning irregular migrants still in Ceuta after the mass arrival at the enclave. The commitment covers people who entered between 30 and 31 July and do not qualify to seek asylum. Estimates of how many remain vary widely. Euronews cited 5,000 to 10,000, Reuters reported around 12,000, and local figures cited by Spanish and Irish media reached 13,000. Nearly 10,000 are thought to remain in the city. The hardest cases involve about 3,000 minors.
José Manuel Albares received the assurance after meeting Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita on Thursday at the United Nations headquarters in New York. It was their first face-to-face meeting since the mass entry into Ceuta. According to RTVE sources at Spain's Foreign Ministry, the Moroccan side said it wanted people without asylum rights to return as soon as possible. Before the meeting, Europa Press reported that the ministers were expected to discuss coordinated steps to stop another flow across the border.
José Manuel Albares has said that 90% of those who entered Ceuta were returned within 48 hours. He also said Moroccan authorities had reinforced their police presence to prevent another mass entry.
The promise does not solve the main legal problem.
Spanish rules require a protection procedure before unaccompanied minors can be returned. In a statement issued on 10 September, Morocco's Foreign Ministry urged Madrid to hand over the children and said it would not block their reception. Sira Rego, the minister for Children, said this week that the government expects most of the minors to stay in Spain once the required guarantees are applied. Spanish authorities therefore use different rules for adults and children. Adults and people without a right to asylum may be processed faster. Children remain covered by individual protection and guardianship safeguards.
That makes the agreement narrower than its language suggests. Cooperation may help return adults or others without a right to asylum. It cannot remove the Spanish procedure for children. The numbers make that divide hard to ignore. The wider operation involves close to 10,000 people, while the most legally sensitive group alone numbers about 3,000.
The figures for minors are also disputed. Reports cited by Reuters and European media counted 1,612 registered minors after the mass arrival, with estimates of 500–700 to as many as 700–1,000 living on the streets; including children already in Ceuta, the total was put at about 2,048.
Albares and Bourita had already spoken several times by telephone before travelling to New York. Albares had said returns would be an important part of their conversation. At the meeting, he argued that Spain and Morocco needed to keep their relations constructive.
The real test is now how that cooperation works in individual cases. On 21 September, Territorial Policy Minister Ángel Víctor Torres said more than 3,000 migrants remained in Ceuta. He said voluntary returns to Morocco were taking place every day, at a rate of roughly 150 to 200 people. He cited 160 returns during the previous 24 hours.
The talks also carried a second message about Ceuta and Melilla. Albares said any good relationship must respect Spain's sovereignty, territorial integrity and the principles of the 2022 joint declaration. The statement responded to calls in Morocco to annex the two Spanish cities. Spain has said its territorial integrity, including Ceuta and Melilla, is not open to negotiation with Morocco or any other country.
Madrid is keeping the two issues separate. On migration, Spain wants Moroccan help to process returns quickly. On sovereignty, it is drawing a firm line. Earlier reporting on Morocco examined a different part of the neighbour's political life. The current dispute is more immediate for Spain because it concerns people still in Ceuta and the legal duties attached to them. Reuters has linked the crisis to wider European tensions over migration and to political debate in Spain and the European Union.
For Ceuta's residents and authorities, the immediate question is not whether cooperation has been promised. It is who can legally be returned and who cannot. Morocco's commitment may create a route for eligible migrants. It does not override asylum rights or child-protection safeguards. The agreement is therefore an opening for operations, not a completed repatriation plan. Albares secured the language Madrid wanted from Rabat while keeping Spain's legal control over the minors' cases. The result is limited but meaningful. Cooperation is possible on returns, while sovereignty and the protection procedure remain Spain's firm limits.
