Morocco has promised to work with Spain to return 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, while local figures cited by Spanish and Irish media reached 13,000. Nearly 10,000 are thought to remain in the city, including about 3,000 minors, the hardest cases.
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. RTVE cited sources at Spain's Foreign Ministry as saying the Moroccan side 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 prevent 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 strengthened their police presence to prevent another mass entry.
The promise does not solve the basic 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 so apply different rules to 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.
Figures for minors are also disputed. Reports cited by Reuters and European media counted 1,612 registered minors after the mass arrival. Estimates put the number living on the streets at 500 to 700, or as many as 700 to 1,000. 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 impressive part of their conversation. At the meeting, he argued that Spain and Morocco needed to maintain constructive relations.
The real test is 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, and 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 and territorial integrity, and adhere to the principles of the 2022 joint declaration. His 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 political debate in Spain and the European Union.
For Ceuta's residents and authorities, the immediate question 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 opens the way for operations, but does not amount to 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.
