{"id":2357,"date":"2026-08-05T13:38:25","date_gmt":"2026-08-05T13:38:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/topmovingpross.com\/?p=2357"},"modified":"2026-08-05T13:38:25","modified_gmt":"2026-08-05T13:38:25","slug":"moroccan-families-seek-missing-loved-ones-after-the-migrant-surge-to-spains-ceuta","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/topmovingpross.com\/?p=2357","title":{"rendered":"Moroccan families seek missing loved ones after the migrant surge to Spain\u2019s Ceuta"},"content":{"rendered":"
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FNIDEQ, Morocco (AP) \u2014 Mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters and friends gather along the Moroccan side of the border with the Spanish territory of Ceuta<\/span>, scanning for familiar faces.<\/p>\n

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Each returning migrant is met with the question: Have you seen my son? My daughter? My brother?<\/p>\n

Authorities say all but a few thousand of the 72,000 migrants who crossed into Ceuta in recent days<\/span> have since returned to Morocco. Some families were relieved to welcome them home. Others were disappointed that the migration attempt failed.<\/p>\n

Other families still wait desperately for news.<\/p>\n

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Families hold up photos of the missing<\/h2>\n

The surge to Ceuta was largely driven by poverty and fueled by online rumors that the border was open, triggering a crisis resonating across Europe<\/span>. More than 80 people died on both sides of the border, according to authorities, as people swam or climbed fences in the attempt.<\/p>\n

Nearly all of the migrants who survived were expelled by Spanish authorities or returned voluntarily after seeing they were unwelcome. Many of those who made it back borrowed phones from strangers to reassure anxious relatives because they had lost or abandoned their phones in the journey.<\/p>\n

As the first migrants trickled back to Morocco, an Associated Press reporter watched families hold up printed photographs of missing relatives, stopping returnees one by one in hopes that someone might recognize a face.<\/p>\n

The migrants studied each picture, offering what reassurance they could, often saying only that they hoped the missing person was safe.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have been looking for my son for five days now,\u201d said Ibtissam Chari, whose son Rayan crossed with friends after hearing that the border had opened. \u201cHe called me when he arrived, and since then I haven\u2019t heard anything from him.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Another woman stood silently facing the border. She said she has heard nothing from her 12-year-old son, who crossed into Ceuta with his older brother. Only the older one has returned.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have nothing else to do but come here and wait,\u201d said the woman, who spoke on condition of anonymity to protect her children. \u201cI spend all my days here. I will come back tomorrow again.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Facebook groups that helped the crossing seek the missing<\/h2>\n

An estimated 1,000 of the few thousand migrants estimated to remain in Ceuta are minors<\/span>. Spanish security forces are not authorized by law to expel them, and their fate is uncertain.<\/p>\n

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It remains unclear whether all of the dead have been found or returned to Morocco. Local newspapers and a source at the morgue in Tetouan, the largest Moroccan city near Ceuta, said the facility had received more than a dozen bodies. Journalists were not allowed to enter. The source spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to journalists.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Moroccan authorities have welded shut the small opening in the border fence that had been opened to allow many returning migrants to re-enter the country.<\/p>\n

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