Morocco strengthens border controls amid calls for mass migrant access to Ceuta and Melilla

Moroccan authorities have significantly bolstered security deployments in areas adjacent to the Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla. This heightened presence aims to intercept individuals attempting irregular migration, particularly in response to social media calls encouraging a mass influx into the cities on August 15.

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When they detect candidates for migration, they intercept them and return them by bus to their cities of origin.

Moroccan security forces, including police and gendarmerie, are actively patrolling roads leading to Ceuta and Melilla. They are intercepting potential migrants, checking their identities, and returning them via bus to their home cities. This operation is reportedly ongoing daily, with similar reinforcements observed in the Nador province, which borders Melilla.

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the transfer of people migrants from the province of Nador is a practice that has been occurring since before the last events.

Human rights organizations have noted that the forced transfer of migrants to cities far from their points of interception, such as Casablanca and Beni Melal, aims to exhaust them. Despite these measures, calls for another mass attempt to enter Ceuta and Melilla continue to circulate on Moroccan social media platforms.

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illegal places where intercepted youths are concentrated before being transferred out of the province.

In response, the Spanish Embassy in Morocco has reissued a warning, clarifying that irregular entry into Ceuta or Melilla does not confer the right to remain in Spain or access the rest of Europe. The embassy stressed that any information suggesting otherwise is false. This warning comes after a recent large-scale migration event on July 30, which saw tens of thousands enter Ceuta irregularly, with many subsequently returned to Morocco while others remained in Spain.

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with the aim of exhausting" the migrant individuals.