El Abbas Took a Taxi to Tétouan, Where He Found the City Overwhelmed

Youssef El Abbas, a 44-year-old Moroccan father of four, saw a chance to reclaim the life he lost when he was deported from Spain in 2019 after his residency expired following a job loss in Bilbao. On Wednesday, he joined the more than 50,000 people who crossed into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta this week, a mass influx that Spain's prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, called "a violation of Spain's territorial integrity. El Abbas took a taxi to Tétouan, where he found the city overwhelmed.

"Young men were running through the streets, flooding every corner, he said. He then headed to Fnideq, the border town, and discovered that Moroccan police had removed checkpoints and were urging people to cross. "The Moroccan police were shouting at us: 'Go, go, go!

Run now, run into Spain, he said. "The night before, they were beating people. But that morning they were letting us through.

Nothing made sense. He noticed that only Moroccans were allowed through; sub-Saharan migrants were pushed back by force. He reached the border at 2:45 p.m. and, after a short swim, stood on Spanish soil by 3 p.m. But the crossing was deadly: "In just 10 minutes in the water, I saw four people floating dead in Moroccan waters, he said.

At least 72 people drowned or were crushed in the attempt. Madrid blamed "human-trafficking mafias" exploiting a recent Spanish Supreme Court ruling that barred summary returns of those intercepted at sea. Some speculated Morocco opened the border to protest Sánchez's visit to Algeria, which supports Western Sahara independence.

Morocco's ambassador, Karima Benyaich Millán, said Rabat was unhappy and hoped those in Ceuta would return. Moroccan sources blamed "criminal organizations" and insisted cooperation with Spain remained "exemplary. El Abbas, who worked in hospitality in Spain for 14 years, has been separated from his wife and four daughters in Bilbao since his deportation.

"I never stopped thinking about coming back, he said. "In Morocco, I was alive, but I wasn't really living. When he swam ashore, a Guardia Civil officer helped him out of the sea, but that gesture of aid later turned to violence.